Brotherhood served under Mubarak regime too, says Shafiq

Presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq resumed his criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday and defended himself from allegations that he represents the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

“Everyone served under the former [Mubarak] regime, even the Muslim Brotherhood,” Shafiq said in an interview on privately owned Al-Hayat satellite channel. “Eighty-eight of them were in the 2005 Parliament after coming to an agreement with the National Democratic Party.”

Shafiq said 99 percent of the remants of the now-disbanded NDP do not support his candidacy.

Under Mubarak, Shafiq served as civil aviation minister and then as the country’s last prime minister during the uprising early last year.

Fears that the country's situation would deteriorate prompted him to run, Shafiq said, implying that this would happen if an Islamist is elected to the country’s highest office.

He said the Brotherhood should learn about the nature of political work before getting involved in it.

In March 2011, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces dismissed Shafiq from his post following mass protests demanding his removal by activists who considered him Mubarak's crony.

“Our revolution in Tahrir Square was legitimate because it was blessed by the people, but whoever revolts against my victory would be illegitimate,” Shafiq said.

“The Brotherhood took to the square after the youth had started the revolution and they were the ones who yielded the results,” he said, describing himself as Sufi.

He added that he would seek to engage Muslims, Copts and women in his presidential administration.

Shafiq added that he could not imagine the runoffs for the presidential election being between two Islamists.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm