Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq (Photo: Reuters)
Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq has opened fire on opponents demanding the establishment of a Political Disenfranchisement Law to oust him from the presidential race, stressing that it was “useless."
According to the law, a limited number of individuals who served in top positions during the last ten years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule – including Shafiq – would be ineligible to enter the presidential race or run for public office for the next five years.
Speaking on Tuesday night on the Masr El-Gedida programme on El-Hayat 2, Shafiq also said there was no such thing as a revolution that continues, as many activists insist, and stressed that if the protests continue, unemployment would increase and production fall.
Shafiq also attempted to quell his opponents' fears by saying that if he was elected president he would respect a diversity of opinions and not jail people just because they disagreed with him.
He added that if one million Egyptians go to Tahrir Square, there are 85 million more who stay at home and also have legitimate demands. He also said the revolution ended once people elected legitimate bodies such as the parliament.
In addition, he said he was willing to work with his presidential runoff opponent, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, and accept the Islamist group as a part of the national and political fabric. He did not feel threatened by Morsi, he added.
“I am naturally not scared by Morsi. I only respond to them [the Brotherhood] aggressively because of their transgressions towards me,” he said. “I had two ways to respond to them, either sue them or to answer them in a stern manner. I also meant every word when I said Morsi would not rule Egypt alone, but rather it would be him, Khairat El-Shater and the Brotherhood’s supreme guide.”
The Brotherhood had initially produced its deputy leader, El-Shater, as its presidential candidate but when he was disqualified due to a previous criminal conviction, the group presented Morsi as his replacement.
Shafiq and Morsi will compete in the presidential election runoff on 16-17 June.
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