THE banned Muslim Brotherhood said it backed Mohamed ElBaradei's call for political reform in Egypt, but said it wanted to see a full platform to decide whether to support him in a presidential vote, should he run. Former UN nuclear watchdog head ElBaradei has shaken up politics since his return to Egypt in February and said he might run for president, a position held by Hosni Mubarak, 81, since 1981. The Brotherhood, which holds about a fifth of parliament's seats after fielding candidates as independents in 2005, is the biggest opposition bloc in the People's Assembly (the Lower House of Egypt's Parliament) dominated by Mubarak's ruling party. The Government has gradually sidelined the Islamist group out of mainstream politics since it won 88 seats in parliament. The group remains the only one capable of bringing large crowds of supporters to the streets. Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, the head of the Brotherhood parliamentary bloc, said the Brotherhood was not entering the presidential race, but was willing to give support to independent candidates based on their political platform. "The power and legitimacy of the Brotherhood stems from its popularity among the people," Katatni said. "We have popular support that can be mobilised to back ElBaradei in his initial efforts to seek reform." ElBaradei has called for amending the constitution to allow independents to run for president and abolishing an emergency law, which curtails political activity and has been in place since 1981. But his efforts to pressure the State into amending the Constitution to allow independents to run for president are unlikely to be met without grass-roots support from the Brotherhood, analysts say.Katatni's visit to ElBaradei late March hinted at a coalition between the outlawed group and the potential contender, whose National Coalition for Change is gathering signatures from the Egyptian populous to lobby for reform. But voting for him as president if hechooses to run in 2011 will depend on his campaign platform, Katatni said. "We agree with ElBaradei's call for reform, but he has not announced his campaign platform yet and we do not sign void cheques," Katatni said. "We will not run in 2011 presidential election, but will support candidates based on their platforms." Katatni said the Brotherhood agreed with ElBaradei's demands for free and fair elections, constitutional reforms and the abolishment of the emergency law. "This is not the time to compete over power," Katatni said. "We could easily compete for 30 per cent of parliament, which would allow us to demand constitutional amendments. But instead, we set a lower ceiling for competition." Meanwhile, the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badei said his group would back any presidential candidate, who has an integrated reform plan to help improve the conditions of the country, even if this candiate was Gamal Mubarak, the son of the President, who is believed to be groomed to the post. Badie, the Brotherhood's newly selected leader, had told Egypt's private Dream TV that State pressure on the group would likely make the parliamentary bloc shrink in the race later in 2010.
