Egypt Islamists Nominate Candidate for Parliament Speaker

Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party, the political affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, will nominate its secretary-general, Mohamed Saad El-Katatni, to be the next parliament speaker.

Freedom and Justice agreed with parties including secular groups and the Islamist Nour Party to take the speaker’s post, chairman Mohammed Morsi told reporters today in Cairo. The two positions of deputy speaker would go to the groups that ranked second and third in parliamentary elections, he said.

The Brotherhood’s party is leading polls in the legislative vote, which started in November, while the bloc headed by the more conservative Nour party ranks second. Final results have not been announced yet with voting continuing in a number of constituencies.

Egypt’s first parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February “will not exclude anyone” and will cooperate with the government and the military council in the transitional period, el-Katatni told reporters today. “The next phase is one of cooperation between all sides, not of competition.”

Egypt has been governed by the military council since the ouster of Mubarak. Parliament, scheduled to convene for the first time on Jan. 23, is supposed to pick a 100-member committee to draft a new constitution.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Digby Lidstone at dlidstone@bloomberg.net