Habib: Extremely poor political climate makes presidential nominations pointless

Mohamed Habib, the deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, denies allegations that the movement will be involved in the so-called 'nomination of an alternative candidate for presidency' with the Kefaya movement, or any other movement as stated by the co-coordinator of Kefaya's movement, Abdul Halim Kandil, at a recent press conference. Reasons are straight forward, he said: "how can we nominate a candidate, quite frankly its senseless since Egypt doesn't boast a healthy political climate in which choosing a nominee will have any affect".

Habib turned down an invitation by the Kefaya movement to attend "Iftar" on account stressing that there was no agreement to hold talks, describing it as a 'coup' against the constitution. In a statement to Almasryoon newspaper, Habib claimed that no one from the movement had said they would be attending any sort of meeting, wondering who Kefaya spoke on behalf of.

"The question of electing an alternative President or candidate for the next presidential election in 2011 is not meaningful where there has been a continued state of emergency on-going more than a quarter of a century, suppression of freedoms, and the prosecution of civilians before military courts," he said.

The deputy maintained that if the movement receives an invitation to take part in the process of choosing an alternative president, "they will not offer any resolutions before extensive studies and discussions in the circles of the movement’s decision-making take place and after consultation with the organizational structure taking into account the circumstances of the existing political reality."