CAIRO: The Deadlock over interim prime minister entered a third day yesterday after the Islamist Nour Party rejected candidates for interim prime minister, prolonging the impasse amid huge protests that turned violent and killed more than 50.
Egypt’s military, which overthrew elected leader President Mohammed Mursi on Wednesday, can ill afford a lengthy political vacuum at a time of violent upheaval and economic stagnation in the Arab world’s largest nation of 84 million people.
The transitional administration, installed by the army to steer Egypt to fresh elections, put forward two possible liberal-minded choices for the key position of interim prime minister over the weekend. On both occasions the Nour Party said no. Nour had signed up to the army’s roadmap for the political transition, giving Islamist legitimacy to an audacious overthrow rejected by Islamic parties aligned to Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Reuters
