Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq said he accepts the so-called Pledge Document, which aims to secure guarantees for a civil state and basic liberties from Egypt's two presidential finalists.
However, speaking at a Sunday news conference, he also said some of the document's articles need "further discussion."
Should Shafiq fully endorses the document, he may well win the support of the leftist Tagammu Party, which had earlier promised to back the 70-year-old candidate’s presidential bid should he sign on to the document.
"As a whole I accept the pledge document," said Shafiq, who served as ousted president Hosni Mubarak's prime minister during last year's Tahrir Square uprising. "But that does not deny that some points of the document need further discussion," he added without elaboration.
The document was presented to both presidential finalists – Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi – for endorsement, without any commitment on the part of the political forces that prepared it to support either candidate should they sign on to it.
Until now, Morsi has failed to take a clear position on the document. Shafiq, for his part, although he has preliminarily endorsed it, has yet to put his signature to the document.
The document stipulates that the two presidential finalists announce the members of their respective presidential staffs, including several vice presidents, before a final runoff vote slated for 16 and 17 June.
The 22-article document was initially prepared by 15 political parties and movements, including the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the liberal Ghad Al-Thawra Party, the liberal Free Egyptians party and the Arab Nasserist Party, among others.
CORRECTION: This article was amended on 4 June. The original suggested Shafiq had fully endorsed the document without reservations.
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