Presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi confirms running in the elections runoffs (Photo: AP)
A defiant Mohamed Morsi held a press conference on Thursday night confirming that he is running in the runoffs and reiterating the slogan, "The revolution continues".
The Islamist candidate’s conference took place a few minutes after an emergency meeting at the Muslim Brotherhood office. Morsi opened his press conference by confirming that the revolution is still in action: "There is no going back to the corruption we had in the time of Mubarak. Mubarak's regime is constantly trying to reinvent itself,” the candidate competing against Mubarak's ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in the runoffs on 16-17 June said, adding that there around 400 figures from Mubarak's regime who are trying to come back using different ways including judiciary.
They will have to face the Egyptian people, he said.
Morsi stressed that the revolution must continue, threatening that if things go back to where they were in the time of Mubarak he will pay with his life for the revolution.
He promised to try Mubarak’s men anew: “They can't be acquitted from their crimes against our martyrs. We’ll go as far as we can, and if the former regime tries to rise, the revolution will be more severe this time."
The Islamist candidate stresses that there is no option but “the revolution at the ballot boxes” which calls for the people to unite: "Revolution, the handover of power and an end to the transitional period."
During the press conference, the Brotherhood's candidate confirmed he will do what it takes to protect the elections from rigging, revealing that hundreds of judges have reached out to him, promising they will do what it takes for the elections to reflect what Morsi described, rather contentiously, as "the Muslims’ will".
Also speaking at the press conference was a representative of the Freedom and Justice Party who warned that, following the constitutional court ruling, "democratic life in Egypt is in danger."
On Thursday afternoon, Egypt's High Constitutional Court declared Egypt's Political Disenfranchisement Law – which had threatened presidential finalist and Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Shafiq with disqualification from the presidential race – to be unconstitutional. The controversial ruling allows Shafiq to contest the presidency in a runoff vote against Morsi slated for Saturday and Sunday.
Short link: