A member of the Freedom and Justice Party’s supreme body in Beheira resigned from the party in rejection of its nomination of Mohamed Morsy for president and announced his support for Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh.
FJP sources in Beheira told Al-Masry Al-Youm Thursday that the former Beheira party head, Mostafa Raslan, believes Abouel Fotouh, who was banned from the group when he declared his candidacy last year, has characteristics that “qualify him to be a masterful statesman.”
The sources said the party’s legal committee has referred Raslan to investigation for supporting Abouel Fotouh and thus violating the Brotherhood Shura Council’s decision to support Morsy.
Raslan joins Mostafa Kamshish, a member of the Brotherhood’s Shura Council in Giza, in supporting Abouel Fotouh in the election set to take place next week. On Monday, Kamshish called on the Brotherhood to withdraw Morsy and support Abouel Fotouh, saying the latter has the ability to lead Egypt through the coming months.
The sources claimed that after Raslan insisted on supporting Abouel Fotouh, he was appointed to the FJP’s supreme body in Beheira in an attempt to sway him.
His daughter, Rofayda Mostafa Raslan, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that her father left Beheira immediately following his resignation, and refused to comment further on the issue.
Mohamed Gamal Heshmat, an FJP lawmaker from Beheira, said: “Everybody has the right to adopt whatever he or she believes is right and is compatible with his or her political and personal beliefs."
Heshmat stressed that resigning is within Raslan's right, and that the two will review the decision together to discuss the reasons behind it.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
