CAIRO — The presidential candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood and two popular rivals eliminated before the runoff called on Monday for further street protests until Egypt’s current military rulers enforce legislation disqualifying the other remaining candidate, former President Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik.
More Protests Loom in Egypt, Targeting Candidacy of Mubarak’s Prime Minister
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: June 4, 2012
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In a joint statement, the candidates also endorsed a call for a major demonstration on Tuesday to protest what they called the weak verdict handed down over the weekend in Mr. Mubarak’s trial. Their statement was the most forceful effort yet to use anger over the verdict to galvanize opposition to Mr. Shafik, long considered a contender to succeed Mr. Mubarak inside his authoritarian one-party system. But it was also the latest blow to the credibility of Egypt’s first competitive presidential election.
The call for Mr. Shafik’s elimination came less than two weeks before he is set to face Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in the runoff, scheduled for June 16 and 17. The new president is expected to take power from the military council that has governed since Mr. Mubarak’s ouster 16 months ago; attempts to draft a new constitution have so far deadlocked, which means the new president could play a formative role in the shaping of Egypt’s charter.
The Muslim Brotherhood said in its own statement that all three candidates agreed to demand not only a retrial of Mr. Mubarak but also legal action against Mr. Shafik for his role as Mr. Mubarak’s prime minister, “bringing to justice those accused of conniving with the defendants by hiding evidence, including the prime minister and minister of interior during that period, who are now seeking to abort the revolution.”
The Brotherhood urged support for Mr. Morsi as “the candidate of the revolution.” The Brotherhood is Egypt’s largest Islamist movement and dominates the newly elected Parliament. But Mr. Morsi and Mr. Shafik each won just under a quarter of the vote in the first round of balloting last month, with Mr. Morsi just ahead of Mr. Shafik.
Earlier Monday, three eliminated candidates — Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist who narrowly trailed Mr. Shafik in the first round; Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a moderate former Brotherhood leader who came in next with about 18 percent of the vote; and Khaled Ali, a human rights lawyer — held a joint news conference to denounce the results of the first round as fraudulent, citing irregularities and limits on monitoring.
International observers have said many isolated abuses did not sabotage the overall fairness of the vote, and the three losing candidates did not present new evidence. But because the three together had the support of nearly half the voters — more than either candidate in the runoff — their joint criticism threatens to undermine the legitimacy of the final result and with it Egypt’s halting transition to democracy.
Mr. Aboul Fotouh and Mr. Sabahi met separately with Mr. Morsi of the Brotherhood to issue the statement calling for more protests and the elimination of Mr. Shafik. Before the first round of the voting, the Brotherhood-led Parliament passed legislation barring Mr. Shafik and other top officials of the Mubarak government from seeking the presidency, and the ruling generals signed it. But the presidential election commission set the legislation aside by referring it to the Supreme Constitutional Court, and the court has not ruled on the matter.
It is highly unlikely that the legislation could be approved and enforced before the runoff, in part because the election commission has said that it intends to retain the last word on how the legislation is carried out even if the court approves the restriction. Mr. Shafik’s elimination would require the cancellation of the first round of results since there is no way to know which other candidate his voters might have chosen. As a result, the military’s transfer of power would be postponed.
But the call for the protests to aim for Mr. Shafik’s elimination is the latest step in the Brotherhood’s efforts to make the question of punishment for Mr. Mubarak a centerpiece of the presidential campaign against Mr. Shafik.
The verdict of life imprisonment instead of execution for Mr. Mubarak has already revived popular resentment toward Mr. Mubarak’s circle, and Monday was the third day of protests demanding heavier punishment for Mr. Mubarak and his security team.
Many fear that Mr. Shafik could grant clemency to the former president and his aides. But some argue that the continued protests could backfire by increasing popular support for Mr. Shafik’s vows to restore stability.