Egypt Islamist Candidate Seeks to Reassure Women and Copts

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi sought on Tuesday to reassure women and Coptic Christians, who fear a conservative Islamist could threaten their freedoms.

"Our Christian brothers, let's be clear, are national partners and have full rights like Muslims," said Mursi in a press conference.

Copts "will participate in a presidential institution" said Mursi, who is to face ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in a presidential runoff on June 16 and 17.

The Muslim Brotherhood is opposed to a woman or a Christian being president, but the movement's political arm the Freedom and Justice Party says it does not.

Egypt's Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the 82 million population, complain of discrimination and have repeatedly been the target of attacks.

Mursi also promised to "respect women's right to work in all areas, to choose the way they dress", saying there would be "no imposition on women to wear the veil."

He insisted that the Islamist movement, which already dominates parliament, was not seeking to "dominate" the country, vowing that a new constitution would "satisfy everyone."

The presidential poll on May 23-24 followed a tumultuous military-led transition from autocratic rule marked by political upheaval and bloodshed, but which also witnessed free parliamentary elections.