Egypt’s Al-Jihad group on Tuesday announced plans to launch a political arm, ‘the Democratic Jihad Party,’ to back presidential finalist Ahmed Shafiq against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi in this week’s hotly-contested runoff vote.

Jama’a al-Islamiya on Tuesday said it has prepared a draft constitution that it plans to submit it to the Constituent Assembly when the constitution-drafting body convenes its first session.

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie on Tuesday called on all Egyptians to vote in the presidential election runoff, specifically appealing to Coptic Christians to consider national interest when casting their ballots.

Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate, on Wednesday promised that under his leadership Egypt would be a “modern, civil, democratic state that respects it citizens.”

Supporters of Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate, together with supporters of former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, staged a protest on Tuesday in front of the Presidential Elections Commission, demanding a copy of the list of registered voters to ensure that no fraud would take place in the runoff election.

Freedom Party MP Ihab Ramzy criticized what he called Islamist domination of the Constituent Assembly on Tuesday, accusing them of not conforming to the will of the Egyptian people.

Hundreds of conservative Salafist Islamists, angered by an art exhibition they believe humiliates Muslims, clashed with police in Tunis early on Tuesday, raising religious tensions in the home of the Arab Spring.

The political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has the biggest bloc in Parliament, is proposing changes to the banking law with the goal of boosting the market share of Islamic banks to 35 percent in five years from 5 percent now, a party member said.

Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Morsy dominated expatriate runoff-round voting in the Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, taking in 127,587 votes to his opponent Ahmed Shafiq’s 29,287, according to an online statement from Morsy’s campaign.

The Salafi-oriented Asala Party has threatened to mobilize Islamists to protest if the new constitution violates Sharia law.

The Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau formed a committee Sunday headed by its former supreme guide and a number of group leaders to discuss demands made by some political and revolutionary organizations.

A leading figure in the Egyptian Social Democratic Party said parties supportive of a civil state were surprised when Islamists went back on an agreement regarding the Constituent Assembly they made last week, according to state-run Al-Ahram newspaper's website.

The campaign for eliminated presidential contender Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh released a statement on Sunday declaring its support for Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi.

Independent MP Mostafa Bakry has submitted a report to the public prosecutor against Freedom and Justice Party MP Mohamed al-Beltagy. Bakry accused Beltagy of inciting people to kill him.

Muslim Brotherhood leader and MP, Mohamed El-Beltagi, filed a complaint to the prosecutor-general's office on Wednesday against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq in which he accused the latter of slander and triggering false accusations against the Islamic group, a step that is expected to aggravate the already tense relationship between the two sides.

Since the fall of the Mubarak regime and the rise of political Islamism following the electoral victories of the Muslim Brotherhood, a new potential menace has resurfaced in the security vacuum – the rise of extremist jihadist groups. These groups embrace an extreme Salafist interpretation of Islam, which accepts violence as a legitimate means of realising their demands.

The majority of Sufis in Alexandria support Ahmed Shafiq in the presidential runoff elections scheduled for 16 and 17 June, said a prominent sheikh on Wednesday.

The SCAF's move was sharply attacked by the Brotherhood's FJP. Brotherhood leaders gave no clear-cut reasons for their decision to boycott the meeting with SCAF on Tuesday. They merely said: "This is not the right time to hold such a meeting."

Telecommunications mogul Naguib Sawiris says presidential candidate Mohamed Morsy has failed to assuage fears that he will impose a conservative Islamist state if elected.

Muslim Brotherhood leader and MP, Mohamed El-Beltagi, filed a complaint to the prosecutor-general's office on Wednesday against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq in which he accused the latter of slander and triggering false accusations against the Islamic group, a step that is expected to aggravate the already tense relationship between the two sides.

Qaliyubiya police are trying to thwart possible sectarian strife in the city of Khanka on Wednesday, after a Christian family kidnapped their daughter who converted to Islam five years ago, married a young Muslim man and gave birth to a son.