Thursday, March 10, 2011

After Moussa also ElBaradei will stand for president, but under conditions

Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said that he will run for president only if a real democratic system is in place, not the reforms Egypt's military leaders are proposing.
ElBaradei told a private Egyptian television on Wednesday, AP reports,  that the suggested constitutional amendments to move Egypt toward democracy are "superficial." He appealed to the military rulers to scrap them or delay a scheduled March 19 referendum on them."We are at a decisive period in Egypt's history," he told ONTV. "We shouldn't rush. Everything should be on a solid basis."

Moussa
ElBaradei, nicknamed 'Budz' by twitterers (or also El Shnitzel) is the number two who has said that he is eventually prepared to stand for president. The first to do so was Amr Moussa, former minister of  Foreign Affairs under Mubarak and lateron promoted away (because he became too popular) to the post of secretary general of the Arab Ligue. Moussa started his campaign on Wednesday with a three hour during talk, during which he got many nasty questions about association in the past with Mubarak and the fact that he - during the Tahrir protests- at one point agreed to limited reforms the then still preisdent Mubarak proposed. He sometimes had to struggle not to become angry.


The constitutional amendments limit a president to two four-year terms. They also allow independents and opposition members to run, impossible under the regime of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
Even so, ElBaradei said he would vote against the amendments. He said the changes don't limit the powers of president or give enough time for political parties to form, and set parliamentary elections too soon. The military rulers have said they want to hand over power six months after the ouster of Mubarak. The proposed amendments suggest that elections, both presidential and parliamentary, would take place during that period.
However, there is no proposed change in the laws that regulate forming political parties. This, ElBaradei said, would allow remnants of Mubarak's party and the well organized Muslim Brotherhood to control the new parliament. He also expressed concern that the current lack of security would hamper ability of authorities to secure the elections or protect people going to vote.
"After all this, how can the parliament be representative," he said. "I can't rule Egypt for one day under this constitution."
One twitter the consensus was more or less that 'Budz' said the right things, yesterday evening. Even so his chances to get elected were judged to be very limited, because of his complete lack of charisma and the fact that he is not popular and  does not appeal to the people on the street..

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