Nour Party, Tamarod tear into Anan

Two key members of the alliance that ousted former President Mohamed Morsi took aim at former General Sami Anan ahead of what could be a run for the top office.

Anan, the former chief of staff of the Armed Forces, said he would announce his position on his candidacy next week. Another army officer, Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, is also set to announce his candidacy, after the top military body announced its support for him and popular campaigns have sought to draft the field marshal.  

Sisi rose to popularity after he announced the army had ousted Morsi, following mass protests that were organized in large part by the Tamarod campaign.

Mohamed al-Nabawy, a spokesperson for the campaign, called Anan a “failed political personality.”

Nabawy insinuated to the privately owned daily Al-Masry Al-Youm Tuesday that Anan was running for personal monetary gain, and tied his potential candidacy to the Muslim Brotherhood. He said the former general, who was appointed by Morsi as an adviser after he was forcibly retired by the president, should have resigned.

Yasser Borhamy, the head of the Salafi Dawah, the parent organization of the Nour Party, also tore into Anan’s presidential ambitions. The Nour Party loaned its support for Morsi’s ouster, becoming one of the only notable Islamist parties to back the transitional plan in its aftermath, known as “the roadmap.”

In a report by the privately owned daily Al-Shorouk, Borhamy attributed Anan’s candidacy to “psychological issues.” Borhamy suggested that Anan, who was Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s superior until he was forcibly retired by Morsi, could not handle a lower-ranking officer running for president.

Borhamy also said that Anan would get limited votes in the upcoming election, said there would not be real competition between him and Sisi.

The Salafi sheikh hoped for a deal inside the military to prevent a split within its ranks.