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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

BREAKING: Muslim Brotherhood Asks Egyptian Prime Minister/Other Brotherhood Cabinet Members To Resign

The Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi are looking for some room to negotiate with the opposition parties perhaps adding some additional representatives from their parties to the cabinet. Thus the  Muslim Brotherhood had asked Prime Minister Hesham Qandil and ministers belonging to the Islamist group to quit according to the Egyptian independent. 
Sources said the Brotherhood made the request in order for the president to agree with the opposition on a new premier before the Wednesday evening deadline set by the armed forces to accomplish political consensus between the regime and the opposition.

Ministers of foreign affairs, telecommunications, tourism, legal affairs and environment had announced their resignations on Monday and Tuesday. Two presidential spokespersons also quit on Tuesday. Their resignations come amid massive protests across Egypt demanding early presidential elections.

The sources noted that the Brotherhood is not ready to make any concessions other than a cabinet reshuffle or the replacement of Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah. The sources explained that the idea of early presidential elections has not even been discussed within the group which, they say, still believes that Morsy has not been afforded the full opportunity to rule.
The Anti-Morsi protesters have given the President till 5PM today to resign or they will ramp up their protests. The military has given Morsi till tommorrow to calm things down or they will take over and look for a "different future " for the government.

In a thinly veiled response to the military threat, Brotherhood spokesperson Yasser Mehrez told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Islamist group urges all parties to "adhere to legitimacy and not to coup against it." He stressed that "negotiations are the only way out of the crisis."

According to Reuters, if things do not calm down the Egyptian Army has a plan to:
... install an interim council, composed mainly of civilians from different political groups and experienced technocrats, to run the country until an amended constitution was drafted within months.

That would be followed by a new presidential election, but parliamentary polls would be delayed until strict conditions for selecting candidates were in force, they said.

The armed forces planned to open talks with the main opposition National Salvation Front and other political, religious and youth organizations once a deadline set for Mursi to reach a power-sharing agreement expires on Wednesday.

The sources would not say how the military intended to deal with Mursi if he refused to go quietly.

The emerging roadmap could be amended as a result of those consultations, they said. Among figures being considered as an interim head of state was the new president of the constitutional court, Adli Mansour.

The emerging army blueprint closely resembles proposals for a democratic transition put forward by the NSF, which appointed former U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday to negotiate with the military on the way forward.
More as the story develops.

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