Mubarak calls for poll reform

2005-02-26 15:33

Cairo - President Hosni Mubarak said on Saturday he had told parliament to amend Egypt's constitution to allow direct presidential elections in which anyone can stand and all citizens can vote by secret ballot.

The announcement comes amid US pressure on Egypt to accelerate democratic reform and follows months of unprecedented protests in which demonstrators have denounced the likelihood of Mubarak being elected to a fifth six-year term.

Mubarak hailed what he called a "historic" move signalling a new era of political reform. He said he had asked the constitution to be amended before May in time for the next presidential election.

"I took this initiative to open a new era of reform," said the 76-year-old Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

Currently, parliament elects a single candidate for the presidency by a two-thirds majority.

The move would "for the first time in Egyptian history, allow everyone who is able and willing to serve the fatherland" to present their candidacy for direct election as president of the republic.

Both the lower and upper houses of parliament will convene extraordinary sessions to study Mubarak's demand, an official said.

"This fundamental change is the product of political stability," Mubarak said, adding that the "right arm of democracy is a free press".

At home and abroad, he has long since justified his reluctance to spearhead political reform by citing fear of instability in a country still scarred by the assassination of Sadat.

Earlier this month, US President George W Bush issued a rare rebuke to Cairo, urging the Mubarak government to quicken democratic reforms.

"To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to fight the common threat of terror, while we encourage a higher standard of freedom," Bush said.

"The great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East," he added.

Tensions between Washington and Cairo have flared, with the US repeatedly criticising the detention of an Egyptian opposition leader held on charges of falsifying documents to register his party.

Campaigning under the slogan "enough," the Egyptian Movement for Change has organised a series of unprecedented public protests to denounce the chance of Mubarak serving a fifth term in office.

The rallies have vented exasperation with Mubarak and mocked the concept of hereditary power, acting on rumours that the president's eldest son, Gamal, is being groomed for power.

Three people have officially declared their candidature in this year's presidential race: Farid Hassanein, who resigned as MP; Ibrahim Saad Eddin and feminist Nawal Saadawi.

Under the current political system they have zero chance of success, with the parliament dominated by Mubarak's ruling National Democrat Party.

- AFP