The Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood group, is likely to run for less than 50 percent of parliamentary seats in the upcoming elections, according to Wahid Abdel Meguid, elections coordinator for the Democratic Coalition, which includes 28 political parties.
“It’s better for the party to run for 30 percent of the seats as part of the coalition," said Abdel Meguid. “This gives the coalition a better chance of winning more seats.”
“The coalition respects the different views of its members,” he added. “We’ll run together as competitors. We’ll field the candidates that are best qualified and enjoy a good reputation,” e said, adding that the deadline for nominating candidates is the end of September.
For his part, Ossama Hafez, vice president of the Jama’a al-Islamiya's consultative council, said it is too soon for his group to decide on whether it will run as part of the coalition. “It depends on the members agreeing on a unified candidacy list,” he said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
