Egyptian former army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Monday the Muslim Brotherhood movement was "finished" in Egypt and would not return if he was elected.

Egyptian former army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Monday the Muslim Brotherhood movement was "finished" in Egypt and would not return if he was elected.

Following the Sisi-led army ouster of president Mohammad Mursi in July, the Brotherhood has been banned, its leaders arrested and more than 1,400 people, mostly backers of Mursi, killed in protest clashes.

"I did not finish it, you Egyptians finished it," Sisi said in his first television interview since announcing his candidacy when asked if the Brotherhood was "finished".

Asked if he were saying it would not exist under his presidency, he responded: "Yes."

Sisi's remarks ruled out any chances of reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The movement, which swept all elections since the 2011 fall of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak, has already been blacklisted as a "terrorist organization" by the military-installed authorities.

Sisi, dressed in a suit and appearing composed and often smiling in what was a pre-recorded interview, said Egyptians had rejected the group's ideology and would not allow it to return.

The retired field marshal also said in what was the first part of the interview that if he was elected the army would "not have a role in ruling Egypt", adding that he was not a candidate of the army.

Aside from Mursi, all of Egypt's previous presidents have come from military ranks, including Mubarak who was toppled following a popular 18-day uprising in early 2011.

Sisi's only rival in the upcoming election is leftist leader Hamdeen Sabbahi who has often raised concerns that Egypt was returning to the autocratic era witnessed under Mubarak.