Annulment of Mursi’s controversial decree a success for opposition: Abul-Fotouh

Strong Egypt Party leader and former Muslim Brotherhood members Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh said he was satisfied with the president’s latest decision to annul a controversial decree that threatened to engulf the country is mayhem.

Abul-Fotouh told Al Arabiya television’s “Special Mission” program that President Mohammed Mursi’s decision was a “success for the opposition” despite that “most of the demands were not met.”

Among those demands, he said, was the annulment of the constitutional draft, set for a vote on Dec. 15.

Opposition groups have staged mass rallies across country to force Mursi to withdraw a presidential decree that gave him sweeping powers and to annul the constitutional draft.

On Saturday, and after talks with dozens of political figures, President Mursi issued another decree, overwriting his previous controversial one. But opposition groups rejected the new decree, saying it does not answer their main demand, which is the annulment of the constitutional draft.

Abul-Fotouh said Saturday’s talks were “between Mursi and himself,” because the talks did not include opposition members.

The moderate Islamist is not part of the opposition National Salvation Front. He said the reason he did not join the front was because “the remnants of the former regime” were part of it. “We do not accept this and we consider this as insult.”

Abul-Fotouh rejected any role of the military establishment in the ongoing crisis, and criticized a recent army statement urging political parties to resolve their disputes with dialogue.