Muslim Brotherhood (MB) General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef said his movement has not accepted Gamal Mubarak succeeding his father Hosni Mubarak as Egypt's president. In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm daily, Akef said: "Gamal Mubarak is the Secretary of the Policy Committee of the National Democratic Party (NDP), but disposes of State affairs, and has contributed to the establishment of military tribunals, and sponsored the daily arrests of MB members. The MB will never agree to a man like him as Egypt's President".
"Yes, I've said the MB might accept Gamal Mubarak's nomination on specific conditions, but that was before the amendment of Article 76 of the Constitution. Yet, this Article has been tailored in favor of Gamal Mubarak himself, that's why we now completely reject him," he added.
Article 76 of the constitution, which stipulated that the president of Egypt be chosen by referendum over one person nominated by two thirds majority of the People's Assembly, was amended in May 2005 to require direct popular presidential elections with more than one candidate. Among the 34 articles of the 1971 constitution amended in March 2007 was a further amendment to Article 76 that lowered the ratio of parliamentary representation of political parties who are entitled to field a presidential candidate from 5% to 3% and even eliminated this requirement in any election held during the ten years following May 1, 2007, for political parties currently occupying at least one seat in any of the two chambers of parliament.
"Before the amendment, we said Gamal Mubarak could run for the presidency only provided that he did as a normal Egyptian citizen, without any influence coming from his being the President's son. After he became Secretary of the Policy Committee, though, he has taken control of everything," Akef added.
