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Al-Nour Party spokesperson Nader Bakkar criticised President Mohamed Morsi’s recorded interview, which was aired late on Sunday, describing the presidency as “a hesitant institution”.
Bakkar appeared on Sada El-Balad TV on Monday, where discussed several issues related to Egypt’s political situation. Bakkar said that broadcasting Morsi’s interview at 1.30am signified that the institution of the presidency is hesitant. “Since the presidency agreed on recording the interview instead of broadcasting it live, why did not they wait until the next morning to broadcast it?” he asked.
He added that several incidents showed a lack of coordination within the presidency, explaining that inconsistent statements issued by the institution are a key example of this issue.
Bakkar also criticised the leaks reported by Al-Jazeera TV channel and Andalou news agency about the interview before it was broadcast. He said state-owned TV channels should be the only source to report the interview, adding that leaking statements to specific private media outlets is suspicious.
The spokesperson claimed that such leaks were behind the rumour that Morsi is planning to dismiss Minister of Defence Abdel Fatah El-Sisi.
Some media agencies reported that Morsi was to dismiss El-Sisi, before the presidency issued a statement denying the rumour.
Bakkar said that the armed forces should not be treated as a “state inside the Egyptian state”, adding that the army is a part of Egypt’s executive authority. He further explained that the tense relation between the presidency and the armed forces is due to inconsistency within the presidency and its statements.
The Salafi figure added that the military spokesperson was more consistent than the presidency spokesperson, because he never went back on his statements.
However, he said that military intervention in political affairs would not be in the best interests of the military or the state. “Major General El-Sisi is a national figure and he asserted that the military would stay away from politics,” Bakkar said.
Bakkar affirmed his party’s participation in Tuesday’s national dialogue session, explaining that they will participate because they have a national obligation to do so.
He concluded that he does not believe that the dialogue will be successful after Morsi announced he will not dismiss the current government and prosecutor general. Many political groups have made these demands, including Al-Nour.
