Egypt's Salvation Front open to supporting military presidential candidate

The Egyptian Salvation Front could support a presidential candidate from the military establishment, revealed the group’s Secretary General Ahmed Said on Tuesday.

Said also called for holding the presidential elections before the parliamentary elections, a move that diverges from the roadmap announced in the wake of the military coup against the elected President Mohamed Morsi on 3 July.

These remarks came after a meeting of the leaders of the Salvation Front, which took place on Tuesday. Said added: “The Front will call its delegates in the ‘Committee of Fifty to lay down the Constitution’ and discuss the latest developments.”

Said reiterated that the Front took a decision to call for presidential elections before parliamentary elections. He also said that they put off choosing their presidential candidate in the wake of calls for General Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi to run.

Regarding his meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, he said that he would get information about the nature of financial aid being offered by the EU to Egypt. “I will tell her that continuing aid is necessary,” he said.

Said also asserted that he would tell Ashton that the roadmap is going well, “without any obstacle”. At the same time, he would ask her about the EU’s view of Egypt after the latest “wave of violence”.