CAIRO - Egyptian Islamic leader Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh said he is “seriously” considering running for president in this year's elections, the first after the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in February. Aboul-Fotouh, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood's top executive bureau, will conduct a survey on his website to gauge the support of his candidacy, he wrote in an editorial published in the Cairo-based daily El-Shorouk newspaper. “As for presidential candidacy and stepping forward to shoulder the responsibility to govern, I have decided to think seriously about running,” he wrote. “We can't deny that we need strong leadership.” Mubarak resigned on Feb. 11 after 18 days of rallies that brought an end to a three-decade rule. He ceded interim power to the military which dissolved the constitution and said it plans to hold parliamentary and presidential elections this year. Amre Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister and the current Arab League secretary-general, and Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are among those who have announced plans to run for president. The Muslim Brotherhood, which was Egypt's biggest opposition group under Mubarak, doesn't plan to field a presidential candidate, senior leader Essam El-Erian said in an interview with state-run television on March 14. Islamists in Egypt are the only political force with strong popular support, Aboul-Fotouh wrote in the editorial, published yesterday. Aboul-Fotouh, 59, was a member of the Brotherhood's Guidance Council between 1987 and 2009. He is the secretary- general of the Arab Doctors Union.
