Under Mubarak and his predecessors, the Muslim Brotherhood had been Egypt’s main opposition. But as they were officially banned they were more of a civil society movement rather than a political party. The transition to a player in politics has not been an easy one, and the Brotherhood has lost ground participating in the messy world of electoral politics. The Brotherhood established their own political party, Freedom and Justice (FJP), in an effort to keep the Brotherhood itself outside of politics. FJP is modeled on Turkey’s mildly Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP). It has been very successful in recent years, simultaneously bringing economics development and better relations with its neighbors, while also weakening the role of the military in Turkish politics.

Originally, FJP was going to sit out the presidential election and focus on parliamentary elections, in the belief that in the new Egypt the parliament would be more powerful than the president. Instead, under the constitution written by the SCAF (the military transitional government), the presidency is still very strong and the Brotherhood has had problems in Parliament despite winning recent legislative elections. Backtracking, Khairat Al-Shater, a MB leader announced that he would run for the presidency. Al-Shater is a very powerful but controversial figure, and many had though he would contend himself with playing kingmaker, rather than run for office himself. He is currently polling in low single digits, and his campaign could further undermine the Brotherhoods strength. Though as he only recently joined the race he shouldn’t be counted out yet, especially with the organization strength of the Brotherhood behind him.

The Salafist Al-Nour is a hard-line Islamist party, and will be represented by Abu Ismail. Al-Nour has done much better than expected in the last twelve, and the United States is particularly worried about their winning as they are the only party running on an explicitly anti-American platform. But Abu Ismail may be disqualified from running after it was discovered that his mother held a US passport. Under Egyptian electoral law this makes him ineligible to run. If the ruling body decides against him, he can appeal, and observers are unsure how the dispute will turn out.

Perhaps the most interesting candidate is Omar Suleiman. Previously the head of Egypt’s intelligence service, just before Mubarak resigned he was appointed Vice President with the idea that he would take over as a transitional figure. This didn’t work out as Marshall Tatwani has been the dominant figure, and Suleiman has been little heard from in the last twelve months. This changed on April 6th when he announced his candidacy for the presidency. This surprised many, and there are a number of conspiracies over what group the old spook actually represents. He seems to be running as the candidate of the old regime, attacking Islamists for the protests and disorder that have roiled Egypt since Mubarak fell. Activists of all stripes have reacted harshly to his candidacy, seeing a win for him as a reversal of last year’s revolution.