SHOTLIST:

CAIRO, MAY 26, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV

SOUNDBITE 1, Ahmed Shafiq, Egyptian presidential candidate (Arabic, 19 sec):
"I promise all Egyptians that we will start a new era. There will be no going back. What is past belongs to the past."


CAIRO, EGYPT. MAY 25, 2012 (SOURCE : AFPTV)

SOUNDBITE 2: Saad Al-Hoseiny, Muslim Brotherhood member (Arabic, 14 sec):
"The whole nation now supports Mohammed Morsi, not for him personnally, but because he is the candidate of Egypt now, and the candidate of the revolution. Him and all the other powers are now the protectors of Egypt in order to face the challenges ahead."




+ IMAGES:

-VAR Ahmad Shafiq
-VAR press conference
- VAR Saad Al-Hoseiny
VAR journalists at the Muslim Brotherhood media centre
///
--------------------

AFP TEXT STORY:

Egypt's Shafiq promises to restore the revolution - Lead

CAIRO, May 26, 2012 (AFP) - Egypt's Ahmed Shafiq, the ex-premier of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak who is set to face a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in a presidential run-off, pledged on Saturday to restore the country's revolution.

Addressing the youth that spearheaded the 2011 revolt, he said: "your revolution has been hijacked and I am committed to bringing (it) back," in an apparent reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which already controls parliament.

Shafiq was speaking after unofficial results said he would advance to a run-off against the Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Mursi.

The former premier directly addressed concerns about his time under the regime of Mubarak, promising there would be no return to the old regime.

"I pledge now, to all Egyptians, we shall start a new era. There is no going back," he said. "We must accept the results."

He reached out to the other candidates such as Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi who came third, and Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood running on a consensus platform.

"I reach out to all the partners and I pledge that we would all work together for the good of Egypt," Shafiq said.

A Shafiq-Mursi run-off will further polarise a nation that rose up against the authoritarian Mubarak 15 months ago but has since suffered endemic violence and a declining economy.

"There is an Islamist trend and a so-called liberal trend. I feel the population is mature enough ... that, without any pressure or monopolisation, this equation will even itself out," Shafiq said.

The next president of Egypt will have to work with the Islamist-dominated parliament, but a constitution to define the leader's role has yet to be decided.

"Parliament has its role, the head of state has his role, the government has its role, there will be no such thing as a fierce confrontation," he said.

Around 50 million Egyptians were called to choose a successor for Mubarak on May 23 and 24. The run-off is scheduled on June 16 and 17.

iba-jaz/al