Egypt’s Al Wasat Party, a group founded by a former Muslim Brotherhood official, said it will back Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh for president.

Aboul-Fotouh, himself a former Brotherhood official, received 63 percent of the party’s vote, followed by another Islamist candidate, Mohamed Selim El-Awwa, Al Wasat said in a statement on its website. The Salafist Nour party, which has the second-most seats in parliament after the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, also backed Aboul-Fotouh.

The Freedom and Justice Party has nominated its leader, Mohamed Mursi, to run in next month’s election.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net