The Muslim Brotherhood group on Tuesday started official procedures for the establishment of its new Freedom and Justice political party.
The group is filling in the application form to submit it to the Party Affairs Committee.
“The application will show the signatures of 9000 founders,” said Ahmed Abu Baraka, a co-founder. “And we will submit it by Wednesday at the latest.”
“Attached to the application is the party’s platform document,” explained Abdel Moneim Maqsoud, lawyer for the group.
Mohsen Rady, a leading figure in the group, said 15 percent of the party's founders are not members of the group. “Among them is the prominent Coptic thinker Rafiq Habib.”
Sources within the group said Habib is nominated to be the assistant party president for foreign affairs, which is in accordance with an early statement by President Mohamed Morsi, in which he announced that he would appoint a Copt to assist him.
“It is premature to talk about that,” said Habib, however.
The minimum number of co-founders stipulated by the committee is 5000.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
