Presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi has made several campaign promises in a televised interview, including to reopen the case of martyrs and injured of the revolution.
Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, who will face rival Ahmed Shafiq in the run-offs in June, said in an interview on the Akher El-Nahar, a programme on El-Nahar channel, that he will ask the Egyptian judiciary to review the cases so that the families of martyrs can finally have justice. Hundreds of Egyptian protesters were killed or injured during the revolution, but very few police officers responsible have been brought to justice; an issue that was a cause of much contention between the revolutionaries and the ruling military council.
Morsi, the head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) also said that if he wins the elections he will be the "president for all Egyptians" and not just the members of his party. Many argue against electing any FJP candidate because their agenda is so rigid that the candidate will only reflect the Brotherhood's ideology, excluding many sectors of society.
The Brotherhood called for a meeting on Saturday to appeal to the country's various political forces to unite against Shafiq, who is seen by many as part of the Mubarak regime. Shafiq served as a long-time aviation minister under Mubarak. Also, at the start of Egypt's revolution in January 2011, Mubarak appointed Shafiq as prime minister in a failed effort to appease the uprising.
Morsi said that rival candidates, who lost in the first round of the elections, including liberal Muslim Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh and socialist Hamdeen Sabbahi, did not turn up in the meeting for personal reasons.
"But we are in contact with all political forces so that we can unite and face the remnants of the old regime," Morsi claimed.
He also assured that the country's various political factions, including former presidential hopefuls, will participate in running the country. Many are worried about the political monopoly that the Brotherhood is quickly gathering: being highly present in syndicates, majority party in parliament and now reaching the face-off election against Shafiq for presidency.
Furthermore, asserts Morsi, Egypt's Constitutional Declaration (drafted shortly after the ousting of Mubarak) gives the president of the country the authority to form a government and added that he plans to put together a coalition government. Because Egypt's new constitution still needs to be drafted, the duties and authorities of the president have not been entirely specified.
Mohamed Morsi also revealed that negotiations are currently underway to hire more than one vice-president. The party had hinted that it could be Sabbahi or Aboul-Fotouh, but in the interview Morsi refused to say who are being considered for the role after Sabbahi stated Saturday night that he would unequivocally not accept an offer.
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