CAIRO, 1 September 2005 — One of President Hosni Mubarak’s main contenders in Sept. 7 presidential elections visited the leader of the influential Muslim Brotherhood yesterday but both denied they were negotiating a deal on votes. Noman Gomaa of the secular and liberal Wafd Party had talks with Mohamed Mahdi Akef of the Brotherhood, which is Egypt’s largest opposition group but cannot field a candidate because of conditions set by the government and ruling party.
The Wafd, which dates from 1919, and the Brotherhood, founded by charismatic Islamist leader Hassan Al-Banna in 1928, were two of the most powerful forces in Egyptian politics before the military overthrew the monarchy in 1952.
The Muslim Brotherhood wants the right to form a political party but the Wafd agrees with Mubarak that Egypt should not allow parties based on religion. The Brotherhood has advised its members to take part in the presidential elections, in which Mubarak faces nine rivals, and has made clear they can vote for anyone other than Mubarak.
Another main contender, Ayman Nour of the liberal Ghad (tomorrow) Party, visited Akef earlier this month but the Brotherhood did not explicitly endorse him, although his platform includes removing all restrictions on forming parties.
Asked if Brotherhood members should vote for Gomaa, Akef told reporters: “Don’t bring up votes. We’ve said it’s up to the people to vote for whoever they want.” Gomaa agreed. “We’re not talking about votes. This is a matter of personal freedom,” he said.
Gomaa said it was up the Egyptian people to decide whether the Brotherhood should have a party, one of the core questions of Egyptian politics. “I cannot say that I recognize or that I don’t recognize (the Brotherhood’s right to a party). The Brotherhood is an existing reality and respected,” he said.
Meanwhile, the advice from the Coptic Christian church in the election is clear: vote for Mubarak, who has already ruled the country for the past 24 years. “All the Coptic church leaders signed a document to nominate and support Hosni Mubarak,” Pope Shenouda, the religious head of the Copts, who account for 5 to 10 percent of Egypt’s 70 million people, told the state’s Al-Ahram daily ahead of the campaign.
The position chimes with the view of many ordinary Copts, who see in Mubarak a determined opponent of Islamists such as the popular but banned Muslim Brotherhood, who they fear could make Copts second-class citizens if they ever came to power. “Mubarak is the best of the 10 candidates... We don’t know about the rest. Maybe some of them back the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Ashraf Wahba, 36, in his religious bookshop.
