CAIRO — An Islamist Egyptian Cabinet member resigned on Thursday, saying he disagreed with the slow pace of reform, in a move that highlighted growing divisions in the crisis-hit government.
It was the second resignation in Egypt's Cabinet since Communications Minister Hany Mahmoud quit citing his "inability to adapt to the government's working culture."
Mohamed Mahsoub, a member of a centrist party which has recently backed Morsi, said he was resigning from his post as minister for parliamentary affairs because he believed the government needed to change more radically.
Morsi had earlier said he would task Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, an independent technocrat, with making limited cabinet changes ahead of a parliamentary election in early 2013 but Mahsoub hinted he wanted Kandil himself to be removed.
"I have reached a clear conclusion that a lot of the policies and efforts contradict with my personal beliefs and I don't see them as representative of our people's aspirations," Mahsoub said in a resignation letter published on his Wasat Party's Facebook page.
He added that Egypt needed "radically different policies and methods."
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