The Brotherhood announced in April that its newly formed “Freedom and Justice” party would contest up to half the seats in a parliamentary election in September but would not field a candidate for the presidency to avoid dominating power.
But Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh said in May he would run as an independent in a presidential vote expected to take place before the end of the year as an independent.
“The Shura Council (the group’s decision-making body) has decided to scrap the membership of Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh… because he announced he would run for the presidency,” the Brotherhood said in a statement posted on its website.
The group, long seen as Egypt’s best organised political force, gained new opportunities after Mubarak was toppled by a popular revolt and his National Democratic Party was dissolved.
Analysts saw the expulsion of Abul Futuh as a proof of simmering disagreements between younger Brotherhood members and its older and more conservative leaders.