President Morsi to meet former rivals Sabbahi, Moussa, Abul-Fotouh

Ahram Online, Saturday 3 Nov 2012

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi holds a series of one-on-one meetings Saturday with three candidates that ran against Morsi to discuss constitution and social justice issues

Morsi
Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi (Photo: Reuters)

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi holds a series of one-on-one meetings Saturday with the three prominent candidates that ran against him, including former foreign minister and founder of the Conference Party Amr Moussa; leftist figure and founder of the Egyptian Popular Current, Hamdeen Sabbahi; renegade Muslim Brotherhood leader and founder of Strong Egypt Party Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh.

Morsi will also meet with reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei who is currently in Brazil at a later date.

Morsi's agenda for his meetings with the five political figures includes the constitution, which is currently in the final drafting stages, as well as social justice and retribution for the slain protesters of the January 25 Revolution.

The president's administration has recently come under increasing criticism from liberal and leftist parties and groups who argue that it is not following the path that achieves the revolution's main demands. Critics also decry that Morsi has defaulted on various promises, including the retrial of president Hosni Mubarak aides, blamed for the killing of protesters during the 25 January uprising. They also charge that Morsi failed as promised to launch new investigations into the ongoing trials over the series of deadly crackdowns against protesters after the January uprising - which was under the military council's charge.

Moreover, the Constituent Assembly, led by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which Morsi hails from, faces scathing accusations from leftist and liberal groups that it is not representative of all political and social factions in the country.

Sabbahi, Abul-Fotouh and Moussa came in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the presidential elections concluded in June, where Morsi narrowly beat Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Short link: