Sisi was asked to lead Cabinet before July 3: MB official

The former head of Egypt’s dissolved Shura Council and leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Ahmed Fahmy said that the ex-Defense Minister and newly-elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was asked to lead the government prior to the military’s decision to oust Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

In an interview published by the Turkish Anadolu Agency, Fahmy said that he contacted Sisi hours before the July 3 declaration to form an interim government, whereupon Sisi relayed his desire for early presidential elections — within a fortnight — excluding Morsi from candidacy.

Sisi’s demands were unrealistic, according to Fahmy, who had suggested that the defense minister lead the government as a result of the trust he had from all sides, followed by a referendum on Morsi’s presidency or early elections. “By doing this we avoid a [political] vacuum,” Fahmy had suggested.

But Sisi, according to Fahmy, deemed this solution to be too lengthy, suggesting faster elections.

Fahmy also added that he never expected the military would take action against Morsi, especially as all members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) were respected and valued by him. “We never stood against what they [SCAF] wanted and whatever they aspired for, whether [military] training or legislation,” he asserted.

Fahmy also explained that Morsi offered many solutions to ease the rising tension, including changing Hesham Qandil’s Cabinet, which had become the subject of severe criticism, agreeing to hold a referendum over his presidency, and many other suggestions that were all met with rejection from the military.

Morsi saw parliamentary elections as a way to avoid a legislative vacuum and represent the people, Fahmy said.

Following the military’s ouster of Morsi and before the violent dispersal of the Rabea and Nahda protest camps on August 14 last year, Fahmy said he was contacted by two SCAF members and Al-Azhar’s Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb with an offer for the release of all Brotherhood detainees in return for the Brotherhood’s acknowledgement of the current political situation.

If we could go back in time, Fahmy contended, “I would say Morsi would have insisted on the same ideas again. It was not possible to hold early presidential elections in two or three weeks, but he wanted to achieve real democracy.”