Egypt premier vows poll transparency
2010-09-29 21:08
Cairo - Egypt's premier vowed on Wednesday that next year's presidential election will be transparent, and said that if the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency wants to run, he can either join a political party or form his own.
Ahmed Nazif's pledge at an investment conference reflects the latest push by the government to allay concerns over who may take the helm of the Arab world's most populous nation if President Hosni Mubarak opts not to run for a sixth term in the 2011 election.
Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, has emerged as a popular opposition figure since returning to Egypt earlier this year - a democracy advocate critical of the government and a voice for sweeping reform aimed at shaking the country out of political stasis it has lingered in for years.
The Nobel laureate has said he would run for president only if there were constitutional changes that guarantee free elections.
Under the current system, it's difficult, if not next to impossible, for an independent to make a run for the presidency - a challenge that Nazif conceded exists.
'Join a party'
On the sidelines of the conference in Cairo, Nazif told The Associated Press that the constitution says "clearly that our political system is based on a multiparty system, so you should join a party" if you want to run for president.
"There is nothing that excludes Dr ElBaradei (...) or anybody else from joining, or even forming, their own political party," he said.
Mubarak has no deputy president, and speculation has mounted that his younger son Gamal, a leader within the ruling National Democratic Party, is being groomed to take over after his father's roughly 30-year tenure. Further fuelling the rumours are concerns about the health of the 82-year-old Mubarak, the only president many Egyptians have known.
"Succession has always been an issue when we talk about political stability," Nazif said. "My argument is (...) that this country is 7 000 years old. It has seen so many transitions (...) and our last transition was through the assassination of our former president (Anwar Sadat), and yet we were able to steady the course."
Transparency
"I believe that today we are much better off than (in) 1981" when Sadat was killed, he added. "We will see a multi-candidate presidential election in Egypt (...) and it's going to be a transparent system that we will show the world that Egypt is capable of handling this kind of political reform."
A smooth transition is vital for Egypt, a key US ally and for years the Arab world's de facto political leader. It's also critical for sustaining the billions in foreign investments on which the country depends to fuel its economic growth - funds that are key to providing new jobs and opportunities for the nation's rapidly growing population of 80 million, about half of whom live on less than $2 per day, according to the World Bank.
But anti-government protests have mounted over the past year, stemming from a slew of issues such as food prices, a new minimum wage and questionable land deals.
Parliamentary elections are slated for November, with few expecting anything other than Mubarak's NDP sweeping the race. ElBaradei has urged Egyptians to boycott those elections, saying they are sure to be rigged.
- AP
