The leadership of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is meeting to decide whether to field a candidate from its ranks for the country's upcoming presidential election, AP reported.

The outcome of Tuesday March 27 meeting will send a signal as to whether the fundamentalist group intends to escalate or defuse rising tensions with the rest of Egypt's political players.

Liberal parties have expressed alarm with the growing control over Egypt's political levers by the Brotherhood and other Islamists, including their taking a majority of seats on a panel tasked with writing a new constitution.

The Brotherhood had pledged not to contest the presidential vote in a bid to assure liberals and Egypt's western allies that it doesn't intend to govern alone. But Brotherhood officials have recently suggested they could field a candidate.