With the historic presidential candidate registration period opening today, the Justice and Freedom Youth and the Egyptian Current officially announced Friday that they will back ex-Muslim Brotherhood member, Abdel-Monem Abul-Fotouh.

Abul-Fotouh is considered a pro-revolution candidate and a moderate and liberal Islamist. He is a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood but was expelled few months after the revolution began.

Although his expulsion from the Brotherhood was officially said to be related to his pre-emptive announcement to run for president - contradicting the Brotherhood's announcement that they would not field a candidate - some argue he was mainly expelled for his more liberal perspectives.

Some members of the Egyptian Current, were, likewise, expelled by the Muslim Brotherhood for wanting to establish a party outside of the Muslim Brotherhood's official Justice and Freedom (political) Party. The Current was also established shortly after Mubarak's ouster. The group still operates as a party, despite not meeting the minimum required membership to register the party officially with the state.

The members of the Justice and Freedom Youth Movement are varied, although the core of the group is known as being leftist. The Justice and Freedom had previously stated to Ahram Online their criteria for choosing a candidate would be based on how well his programme fit with the ideals of the movement, coupled with the likelihood of him winning.

The movement was originally torn between Abul-Fotouh and Abul-Ezz El-Hariri, a leftist candidate. They chose the former because they consider he has better chances of winning the seat.