Egypt race heating up with violence

CAIRO

The presidential candidate for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood yesterday vowed to ensure the full rights of Christians and women if he is elected, as the election campaign turned violent when protesters torched the offices of a runoff candidate, Ahmad Shafiq.

Mohammed Morsi said he planned to appoint Christians as presidential advisers and name one as vice president “if possible,” and said he would not impose an Islamic dress code in public for women. Women, he said, will have full rights in jobs and education. “Women have a right to freely choose the attire that suits them,” he said.

Egypt’s cabinet was scheduled to meet yesterday after a presidential election turned violent when protesters torched the offices of a runoff candidate on May 28. Protesters set fire to the headquarters of former Prime Minister Shafiq, angered after the electoral commission announced he would face Morsi. The protesters ransacked Shafiq’s office, according to an Agence France-Presse correspondent who visited the building in the middle class Dokki neighbourhood of Cairo yesterday.