CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood said Sunday the ruling military council should task it with forming a new government if the party emerges with the biggest bloc in Egypt’s legislative elections.
"The future government is supposed to represent the people," spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan told AFP ahead of the start of voting on Monday.
The ruling military council "must task the party which gains the biggest number of seats to form the next government," he said.
"If the government is not representative of parliament, the assembly will block all its decisions," said Ghozlan.
The military council which took power when Hosni Mubarak was toppled in an uprising in February has said the next parliament will be tasked with drafting a constitution and presidential polls held by the end of June 2012.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the most organized political force in Egypt, is expected to make strong gains in the elections through its newly formed Freedom and Justice Party.
"We prefer a parliamentary system," said Ghozlan.
"The president enjoys full powers. He heads all of the country’s institutions except for parliament. So definitely we prefer a parliamentary system."
The remarks come after a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Mamdouh Shahin, said the next parliament will have no authority over government.
On Friday, SCAF head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi tasked ex-premier Kamal El-Ganzoury with forming the next government, an appointment vehemently rejected by protesters on the streets who accuse the army of clinging onto power.
But on Saturday, leading politician Mohamed ElBaradei threw the ruling generals a lifeline, offering to drop his presidential bid if he is offered the post of prime minister.
Protesters camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square have called for a mass rally on Sunday to demand an end to military rule, on the eve of the first elections since president Mubarak’s ouster.
