The announcement of Prime Minister Hesham Qandil’s Cabinet on Thursday has elicited varied reactions from political parties.
"The formation of the new government is one more example of a string of strange decisions issued without consultation or any demonstrable criteria," said Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, in a statement Thursday evening.
"The [April 6] movement does not ask for quotas for political parties, because that is illogical. But we do ask for transparency regarding the criteria and conditions for the choices of the ministers,” Maher said.
He confirmed that it is the president's right to choose his cabinet, but added that Morsy has to bear the consequences for his decisions.
Gamal Heshmat, a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood and member of the higher authority of the Freedom and Justice Party, said that the president has fulfilled his promise regarding the formation of the government. Most Cabinet members, including the prime minister, are not are not members of the Brotherhood, Heshmat told the state-owned Al-Ahram daily.
Heshmat called on Egyptians to cooperate with the new government and help the president achieve his campaign promises.
"We have to give the government a chance to work. It needs support, patience and constructive criticism," Heshmat said.
Former parliamentarian and Salafist Mamdouh Ismail said that the new government is not a revolutionary government, but rather an interim government for safe passage through the current period.
Ismail said on his Facebook page that the Brotherhood ministers in the new Cabinet are loyal hard workers, and that the government represents a mixture of Brotherhood affiliates, technocrats and holdovers from the ousted regime.
“I will be patient and will not make prior judgment on ministers from the ousted regime,” Ismail said.
