The Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamist Nour Party will be offered ministerial positions in the transitional government, officials have said, hours after the appointment of a new prime minister.
Hazem el-Beblawi, a liberal economist and former finance minister, was named the new prime minister, the presidential spokesman, Ahmed al-Muslimani, said.
Liberal opposition chief and Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was named vice president for foreign relations, Muslimani said on Tuesday.
The appointments were followed by an announcement that ministerial posts in the new government would be offered to members of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, and to the hardline Islamist Nour Party.
State media quoted a presidential spokesman as saying: “There is no objection at all to including members of those two parties in the government.”
The administration moves come almost a week after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and chose chief justice Adly Mansour to head the Arab world’s most populous country.
ElBaradei was initially tipped to lead the cabinet but his nomination was rejected by the Nour party.
Beblawi now faces the daunting task of trying to reunite a deeply divided country and rescue its battered economy.
The head of the party added that it was still studying ElBaradei’s appointment.
The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, is refusing to recognise the caretaker president or any of his decisions.
Shortly after the Islamist parties made their statements, Egypt’s army chief went on state media to say that the military will not accept political “maneuvering”.
Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said that “the future of the nation is too important and sacred for maneuvers or hindrance, whatever the justifications”.
The blueprint unveiled by Mansour is intended to replace the controversial Islamist-drafted constitution which he suspended following last week’s coup.
A committee will be set up to make final improvements to the draft before it is put to a referendum.
Parliamentary elections will then follow within three months and Mansour will announce a date for a presidential election once the new parliament has convened.
