Presidential hopeful Abdullah al-Ashal announced his withdrawal from the presidential race Saturday and his support for Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in the election.
Ashal is the first candidate to pull out of the race after the final list of presidential candidates was announced.
Ashal made the announcement at a rally for Brotherhood candidate Morsy at Cairo University on Saturday to announce Morsy’s election platform. More than 30,000 people attended the rally.
This is the second time Ashal has decided to pull out of the race. In April, he said he would withdraw to support the candidacy of Khairat al-Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood’s original candidate, who was ousted from the race for serving a prison sentence under ex-President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
However, just before the door was closed to further presidential nominations, Ashal said he would run in the election, supported by the Salafi Asala Party.
Ashal is an international law professor at the American University in Cairo. He also served as assistant secretary of foreign affairs.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
