Egypt’s political transition after President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military stumbled at the first hurdle, after the choice of liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei as interim prime minister was thrown into doubt by Islamist objections.
ElBaradei’s nomination had been confirmed by several sources and state media on Saturday, but just before midnight a presidential spokesman told reporters that the prime minister had not in fact been chosen.
The abrupt U-turn came amid opposition to the appointment by the Nour Party, Egypt’s second Islamist force after Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, highlighting the challenge the military faces in finding consensus among liberals and conservatives on who should run the country.
Clashes between tens of thousands of pro- and anti-Morsi protesters swept the Arab world’s most populous nation on Friday and at least 35 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded.
The violence, which saw rival factions fighting street battles in central Cairo and many others cities and towns, underlined the pressing need for a swift political solution seen as inclusive to all.
“We extend our hand to everyone, everyone is a part of this nation,” the spokesman told reporters. “The Muslim Brotherhood has plenty of opportunities to run for all elections including the coming presidential elections or the ones to follow.”
Minutes after he spoke, state media reported that the public prosecutor ordered that four top Brotherhood leaders held this week be detained for a further 15 days on accusations that they incited violence against protesters.
The four included Saad el-Katatni, head of the group’s political wing, and Khairat El-Shater, its political strategist.
The Brotherhood has said it wants nothing to do with the military’s plans for a new interim government. It believes Morsi should be reinstated, and has pledged to keep protesting until he is.
The Nour Party, however, had agreed to the army-backed transition plan leading to new elections. Its withdrawal from the process would strip that plan of vital Islamist support.
And following the Nour rejection, the interim administration headed by Adli Mansour delayed naming the new prime minister.
On Sunday, people were still reeling from one of the bloodiest days in over two years of tumultuous upheaval since autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising that was part of the 2011 “Arab Spring.”
The Brotherhood called for another day of protest on Sunday, meaning that relative calm on Saturday may prove to be only a temporary lull.
Iran, in its first official reaction to the toppling of Egypt’s democratically elected president by the military, is calling the move “improper.”
A Sunday report by official IRNA news agency quotes foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi also saying that supporters of Mohammed Morsi should not give up in their quest to reinstate him. He also said the presidency should not be decided by “the streets.”
“Islamists and revolutionaries should not be frustrated,” said Araghchi. “Arab Spring can be followed by warm summer and cold winter,” too.
Araghchi did not call the move a “coup.”
Morsi ended more than three decades of diplomatic estrangement with Iran that dated back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday Egypt risked slipping into civil war following the military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi.
“Syria is already in the grips of the civil war ... and Egypt is moving in the same direction,” Putin told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti during a visit to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.