The organization is under intense pressure from younger adherents to back former Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who is already running for president. Aboul Fotouh, who was seen as a leader of a more progressive part of the Brotherhood, was ousted for breaking the rules and declaring himself a candidate. Many young members who joined his campaign were also expelled…

Omar Ashour, an expert on Islamist movements from Britain’s Exeter University and a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution, said the Brotherhood faces an internal rebellion that will intensify if the group endorses a non-
Islamist candidate — such as former foreign minister Amr Moussa or the former head of the military advisory council, Mansour Hassan — and might nominate a candidate to save itself from splintering.

“They have no options,” Ashour said.