Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi holds a series of one-on-one meetings Saturday with the three prominent candidates that ran against him, including former foreign minister and founder of the Conference Party Amr Moussa; leftist figure and founder of the Egyptian Popular Current, Hamdeen Sabbahi; renegade Muslim Brotherhood leader and founder of Strong Egypt Party Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh as well as one reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei Al Ahram online reported.
Morsi's agenda for his meetings with the five political figures includes the constitution, which is currently in the final drafting stages, as well as social justice and retribution for the slain protesters of the January 25 Revolution.
The president's administration has come under increasing criticism from liberal and leftist parties and groups who argue that it is not following the path that achieves the revolution's main demands. They also decry that Morsi has defaulted on various promises. One promise was a retrial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his aides, blamed for the killing of protesters during the 25 January uprising. They also faced charges of corruption and squandering public funds. Morsi also promised to launch new investigations into the ongoing trials over the series of deadly crackdowns against protesters after the January uprising - which was under the military council's charge - and up until a head of state was elected.
Moreover, the Constituent Assembly, led by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which Morsi hails from, faces scathing accusations from leftist and liberal groups on grounds that it is not representative of all political and social factions in the country. They also expressed major dissatisfaction over the constitution draft, which was released two weeks ago.
Sabbahi, Abul-Fotouh and Moussa came in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the presidential elections concluded in June, where Morsi narrowly beat Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under ousted president Hosni Mubarak.