Assem Abdel Maged, a member of the Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya, launched Tagarod on Sunday to counter the Tamarod campaign started by a group opposed to President Mohamed Morsi's presidency last April. In a conference held yesterday Abdel Maged asked Morsi's supporters to sign a petition to keep the “legitimately elected president in his post". The Tagarod, or “impartiality", petition states: “We, the signatories, agreeing or disagreeing, with Dr Mohamed Morsi, the elected president, insist that he should complete his term as long as we do not see from him outright blasphemy; we have in him a sign from God, may God bless him and guide his footsteps." Abdel Meged is confident that the Tagarod campaign will be more successful than Tamarod and will gain more signatures. The Tamarod, or “Rebellion", campaign has managed to collect over two million signatures from Egyptians withdrawing confidence in Morsi's leadership, and continues to gather supporters from all over Egypt. Khaled El-Sherif, the Building and Development Party spokesperson criticised the Tamarod campaign saying it is “a manipulation of the will of the people". He added that the army will not allow such a transgression and that they will protect the legitimacy of the elections and the revolution. He also added that this campaign only serves counter-revolutionary forces and the remnants of the Mubarak regime. El-Sherif denied his party is involved in the Tagarod petition, claiming they only heard about it from the media.
