EGYPT: Egyptian FJP party president elections underway.

Record ID: 438762

  • Title: EGYPT: Egyptian FJP party president elections underway.
  • Date: 19th October 2012
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (OCTOBER 19, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF POLLING STATION FOR PARTY PRESIDENT OF THE FREEDOM AND JUSTICE PARTY NAMEPLATE READING: "THE GENERAL CONFERENCE TO ELECT THE PRESIDENT OF THE FREEDOM AND JUSTICE PARTY" TWO YOUNG MEN HOLDING ELECTORAL BANNER OF DR. SAAD AL-KATATNI REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION DESK ELECTORAL BANNER OF DR. ESSAM EL-ERIAN WOMAN REGISTERING HER NAME TO VOTE MAN CHECKING HIS NAME IN THE VOTERS LIST ELECTORAL BANNER OF DR. ESSAM EL-ERIAN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF THE DISSOLVED PARLIAMENT, ABBASS ABDEL AZIZ, SAYING: "Today is a democratic festival. It provides a model presented by the Freedom and Justice (Party) to the other parties. The current fair competition between two great figures delivers a message to all people to make clear how we are practising democracy in one of the major parties of Egypt after the January 25th revolution." EMPLOYEES OF THE INFORMATION DESK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CONTENDER OF THE FREEDOM AND JUSTICE PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS, ESSAM EL-ERIAN, SAYING: "What I offer is this: the party needs a dedicated and full-time leadership, a leadership which addresses the concerns of party members and works to increase party membership and develop party resources. The party needs a leader who does not hold any executive or parliamentary roles. This is what I have to offer and this is what party members say they need, based on discussions I've had with the members of the general conference in thirteen governorates, where members unanimously agreed on the need for a full-time leadership." CONTENDER ON THE FREEDOM AND JUSTICE PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS, SAAD AL-KATATNI, GREETS HIS SUPPORTERS WIDE OF VOTERS REGISTERING THEIR NAMES
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABAYVVI67Q0AVG31OS9W8CDK73
  • Story Text: Hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) pack a polling station to cast their votes in an election for president of the current ruling party in Egypt.


    The political arm of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), held its first election for a new party president on Friday (October 19).
    Essam El-Erian and Saad al-Katatni were in stiff competition for the post.
    Parliamentarian Abbas Abdel Aziz said the election demonstrated that the FJP adhered to democratic principles.
    "Today is a democratic festival. It provides a model presented by the Freedom and Justice (Party) to the other parties. The current fair competition between two great figures delivers a message to all people to make clear how we are practising democracy in one of the major parties of Egypt after the January 25th revolution," he said.
    Mohamed Mursi was appointed first president of the FJP after its formation last year after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power. Mursi stepped down from his FJP post when he was elected as national president in June.
    58-year-old El-Erian, the acting chairman of the FJP, has promised to develop the role of the party leader if he wins the FJP presidency.
    "What I offer is this: the party needs a dedicated and full-time leadership, a leadership which addresses the concerns of party members and works to increase party membership and develop party resources. The party needs a leader who does not hold any executive or parliamentary roles. This is what I have to offer and this is what party members say they need, based on discussions I've had with the members of the general conference in thirteen governorates, where members unanimously agreed on the need for a full-time leadership," he said.
    But it is the 60-year-old Al-Katatni, who was elected as a parliament speaker for the first Assembly following the toppling of Mubarak, who is likely to win the election.
    He managed to collect 476 recommendation letters from the General Assembly members while El-Erian got only 110.
    The Muslim Brotherhood Group had been banned for thirty years under Mubarak's rule.
    The FJP won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last year.
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