CAIRO: Leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Sobhi Saleh denied Thursday press reports quoting him as saying that the group would support presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei in the next presidential elections later this year. “The Brotherhood has not yet selected a candidate to support,” said Saleh, lawyer and a member of the committee assigned by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to amend the constitution. On Wednesday, a number of independent newspapers reported that Saleh announced in a public gathering in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag that the MB will support ElBaradei's candidacy. According to Saleh, the conference, attended by 5,000 people, only tackled the future of the January 25 Revolution with no reference to the presidential elections. “During the conference, [which was videotaped] someone asked me how ElBaradei could possibly be a candidate after he [let down] an Arab country, referring to Iraq,” Saleh said. “I replied that he is an Egyptian citizen who has the right to run for president, which he apparently considered a defense of ElBaradei,” Saleh said. Opposition leader ElBaradei had announced his intention to run for president last month. A smear campaign against ElBaradei upon his return to Egypt in early 2010 suggested that he was the reason behind the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. At the time he headed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and reported, in a UN Security Council meeting in March 2003 right before the invasion, that there was no indication of nuclear-related prohibited activities at any of the inspected sites. ElBaradei also told attendees that there were no indications that Iraq had attempted to import uranium since 1990. Saleh confirmed that the MB will not field a candidate for the presidential polls. “The group will choose a candidate to support, but we haven't yet agreed on a figure,” he said. Saleh said that the group preferred to support a candidate on whom political forces and public opinion agree, rather than nominate an MB member. Earlier this month, ElBaradei said in media statements that if elected president, he would engage in dialogue with the MB, the Salifis and the Copts. ElBaradei further said that he could include members of these groups in the government.
