Mubarak opponent pledges change
2005-08-08 09:20
Sarah el Deeb
Cairo - One of two main challengers to President Hosni Mubarak in next month's elections said on Sunday if elected, he would abolish Egypt's emergency laws and release all political prisoners.
But Noaman Gomaa, a law professor who leads the New Wafd Party, said he would not let the Muslim Brotherhood stand as a party in elections.
"We reject any party founded on a religious basis," Gomaa said, referring to Egypt's biggest Islamic group. "They should be left as a religious social group, one that spreads the principles of Islam."
The Brotherhood's political role has long been problematic. Although tolerated, the Brotherhood is outlawed and cannot contest elections. Many Egyptians who favour greater democracy fear that if the Brotherhood were allowed to stand, it would sweep the board.
Government's policy
Gomaa said if the Brotherhood wanted to take part in politics, it should support independent candidates or ally itself with an existing party.
This is the current government's policy. By endorsing nominally independent candidates, the Brotherhood has 15 seats in the 454-member parliament, the largest opposition bloc. In the 1984 elections, Gomaa's New Wafd allied itself with the Brotherhood and won 58 seats in parliament. Today the Wafd has four seats.
Gomaa, 70, and Ayman Nour, 40, a former Wafd member who leads the Al-Ghad party, are the biggest names standing against Mubarak, 77, in the elections, which are scheduled for September 7.
Striving for free and fair elections
Addressing a press conference in the Wafd's headquarters, an ornate villa, Gomaa said while the party believes the new electoral law did not provide sufficient guarantees for fair and free polling, it had decided to take part.
"If the Egyptian people want to reject rigging (of the elections), they will be able to do that" by voting on the day, Gomaa said in an appeal for a large turnout. He did not explain how people could prevent tampering with ballots - a major complaint in previous elections.
Gomaa said if elected, he would abolish the emergency laws and the military courts they have spawned. The emergency, which was introduced in 1981, has long been condemned by human rights groups as sharply curtailing political freedom.
"Those who are in power now are there by force and have no loyalty to the nation," Gomaa said.
Gomaa said if elected, he would promote political and economic liberalisation and seek to alleviate the plight of impoverished Egyptians.
Wafd "radically opposes the current US administration's policies" in the Middle East, particularly the US "occupation" of Iraq and its support for Israel in the Palestinian territories, he said.
- AP