Archive for presidential race

Shafiq faces trial in November

by admin
October 18th, 2012

Ahmed Shafiq, former presidential candidate and ousted President Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, is set to face trial on 6 November alongside four leading figures in the Civil Aviation Ministry.

The defendants are charged with selling aircraft for less than its real value.

Shafiq, who went to the Emirates after losing the presidential race in June, is alo facing another trial on charges of selling land owned by the Aviation Association to Mubarak's sons, also for below-market prices.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Abu Ismail to establish international Islamic movement

by admin
September 17th, 2012

Salafi Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who was eliminated from the presidential race earlier this year, has decided to establish an international Islamic movement and a political party that aims to spread “moderate Islam,” a former media adviser to his campaign said on Monday.

“The movement will have a political and educational dimension based on the application of Sharia, deriving its understanding from a Salafi perspective. It aims to spread moderate Islam. The name of the movement, the party and its leadership will be announced in a press conference on 15 October,” said Ayman Elias.

The movement would focus on educating a new generation about Sharia in the Gulf states, Egypt and Libya, Elias said.

Abu Ismail was disqualified from the presidential race after the Presidential Elections Commission ruled that his mother had American citizenship, as the Constitutional Declaration stipulates that presidential candidates’ parents must only hold Egyptian citizenship.

Abu Ismail said that the documents submitted to the PEC were false and his mother holds only Egyptian citizenship.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Foreign policy suddenly emerges as major issue in presidential race – Boston.com

by admin
September 14th, 2012

TIME
Foreign policy suddenly emerges as major issue in presidential race
Boston.com
WASHINGTON — With just 53 days remaining until Election Day, the unfolding situation in Libya, where four Americans were killed Tuesday, and elsewhere in the region almost ensures that foreign affairs will be more than a footnote in the final weeks of …
US vows to track down envoy's killers, sends destroyers, marine unit to LibyaHindustan Times
Will provocateur film derail Arab Spring?World War 4 Report
Romney Broadens Criticism of Obama on Violence in Middle EastSan Francisco Chronicle
Philadelphia Inquirer -San Jose Mercury News -Concord Monitor
all 6,317 news articles »
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Categories Libya News
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Fallout of deadly attacks in Libya injects foreign policy into presidential race – Washington Post

by admin
September 13th, 2012

Washington Times
Fallout of deadly attacks in Libya injects foreign policy into presidential race
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are trading tough words over the handling of foreign attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East, injecting foreign policy into a presidential campaign that has focused on a …
FACT CHECK: Romney misstates facts on attacksCBS News
Libya and Egypt: Does President Obama even care?Washington Times

all 3,695 news articles »
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Categories Libya News
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State news agency: Former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman dead

by admin
July 19th, 2012

Former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who briefly served as vice president under Hosni Mubarak, is dead, state-run news agency MENA reported Thursday.

Suleiman died in an US hospital Thursday morning, according to the report, which did not initially give details about the cause of death.

After heading General Intelligence Services for 18 years, Mubarak appointed him vice president as the former president struggled to stay in office in February 2011. Despite his involvement in cracking down on protests during the uprising against Mubarak, he later vowed to protect revolutionary goals during his presidential bid.

He was disqualified from the presidential race on 17 April after he failed to collect the required signatures from various governorates.

Since 2001, Suleiman led Mubarak’s cryptodiplomacy as he took over key foreign policy dossiers and his name started to appear in the public sphere despite his usually low profile. His close relationship with Mubarak goes back at least to 1995, when Suleiman ordered an armored vehicle shipped to Addis Ababa to transport Mubarak during a visit there, saving his life from an assassination attempt by Jama'a al-Islamiya gunmen. 

The 77-year-old presidential candidate, born in the Upper Egyptian town of Qena, joined the army in 1954 and received advanced training at the Frunze Military Academy in the USSR. He also holds a master's degree in political science from Cairo University. Suleiman’s intelligence career began in 1986, when he became deputy head of military intelligence, and then its director in 1991 before being appointed to the top General Intelligence Services post in 1993, which reports directly to Mubarak. He served in the 1962 Yemen conflict and the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973.

Suleiman was ranked the most powerful intelligence chief in the region by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2009, ahead of the Mossad chief at the time, Meir Dagan. His legacy lies in his ruthless war against Islamic militants through the infamous extraordinary rendition program in partnership with the CIA that was initiated with a joint agreement between Egyptian intelligence and the CIA in 1995.  Suleiman’s bureau was responsible for identifying and receiving suspected militants from around the world rendered to Egypt by the CIA.

Additional reporting by Rana Khazbak.

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Hamzawy: I didn’t support Shafiq, will oppose Morsy

by admin
June 30th, 2012

Former liberal MP Amr Hamzawy has denied that he supported Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force chief and Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, in the presidential race.

Hamzawy tweeted that he didn’t support Shafiq, but will be in the opposition against president-elect Mohamed Morsy.

He saluted the speech Morsy gave yesterday in Tahrir Square, however, saying it was conciliatory because it affirmed the civil nature of the state.

Before the People's Assembly was dissolved, Hamzawy was an independent MP representing the well-off area of Heliopolis. He was one of the few MPs who managed to secure a seat without a runoff during the election held from November to January.

Hamzawy said Morsy shouldn’t be described as a “leader” and people should not over praise him. “We want a president that we can hold accountable," he wrote.

Yesterday Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, took an informal oath of office during his speech in Tahrir.

"There is no power above people power," Morsy said to enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. "Today you are the source of this power. You give this power to whoever you want and you withhold it from whoever you want, with God's blessings."

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Abu Ismail to form political party

by admin
June 27th, 2012

Salafi preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who was disqualified from the presidential race, said he will start a political party in two months and anticipates that the party will object to the policies of President-elect Mohamed Morsy.

Abu Ismail told Al-Masry Al-Youm that his party will have a major effect on political life, adding that it will be strong from the beginning because he is working to establish a solid foundation for it.

He also called on Morsy to cancel the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration.  

“The Egyptian street will not accept the Muslim Brotherhood backing off from demands to cancel the constitutional addendum. We will face the president and his group by going to the squares if they prove that they have made a deal with the military that involves closing their eyes to the supplement,” he said.

Abu Ismail said he will not take on any leadership positions in the country. He criticized various politicians for pressuring the president-elect to secure top positions in his administration.  

Abu Ismail was excluded from the presidential race after documents showed that his late mother held American citizenship. Under the Presidential Elections Law, the president’s parents and spouse cannot hold another nationality.

Abu Ismail rejected his disqualification based on his mother’s citizenship as a conspiracy engineered by the Presidential Elections Commission and the ruling military council.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Dozens rally against Shafiq in Tahrir

by admin
June 15th, 2012

Dozens protested in Tahrir Square on Friday morning against former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq remaining in the presidential race after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled a law that would bar him unconstitutional.  

The protesters staged a march around the square and chanted, “Oh Constitutional Court, the remnants are illegitimate.”

Traffic flowed normally in the square while the number of street vendors grew in anticipation of more protesters later in the day.

The April 6 Youth Movement called for a march from Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandiseen to Tahrir at 5 pm Friday under the slogan, “No to the soft military coup.” Former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh announced that he would lead a march from the same mosque.

April 6 activist Engy Hamdy stressed that Shafiq would not be recognized by protesters as the president if he wins the election.

The movement said in a statement Thursday that the political forces, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, took part in impeding the revolution by approving the majority of the military council’s decisions, including the flawed Constitutional Declaration.

Protesters gathered in small numbers in Tahrir Square on Thursday night to protest the court’s ruling against the Political Isolation and Parliamentary Elections Laws.

On Thursday, the constitutional court ruled that the Political Isolation Law that would disqualify former Shafiq from the presidential election is unconstitutional.

The court also ruled that the Parliamentary Elections Law was unconstitutional because of an article allowing political parties to field candidates for the one-third of parliamentary seats reserved for independents. This ruling would result in the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated Parliament.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
 

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Early results put Morsy in lead for Egyptians in Saudi Arabia

by admin
May 21st, 2012

Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Morsy leads the presidential race so far among Egyptians in Saudi Arabia, Egyptian Ambassador in Riyadh Mahmoud Ouf said Monday.

Morsy led with 49.5 percent of the 83,351 valid votes cast in the Riyadh constituency, the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh announced Monday. The constituency includes the central, east and northeast parts of Saudi Arabia, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Presidential hopeful Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, a former Muslim Brotherhood member, won 26.13 percent of the vote. Nasserist hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi came in third with 11.4 percent.

Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa ranked fourth with 7.45 percent, while ex-Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq followed with 4.24 percent. The two Mubarak-era ministers ranked as front-runners in local polls.

Out of an estimated 160,000 voters who registered to vote in Riyadh, 55 percent cast their votes, either by coming to the embassy in person or by sending their choices by mail.

On Sunday, Ali al-Esheiry, the Egyptian consul-general in Jeddah, announced the voting results from Jeddah constituency, which includes west, northwest and south Saudi Arabia. He said 48 percent of about 56,000 votes went to Morsy.

Abouel Fotouh came in second with 28 percent, while Sabbahi came in third with 6,029 votes and Moussa followed with 4,504 votes. The other candidates in the race received less than 2,000 votes.

Morsy previously won 30.9 percent of the vote for Egyptians in Kuwait, followed by Abouel Fotouh with almost a quarter of the votes, the Egyptian ambassador to Kuwait announced Sunday.

Meanwhile, Abouel Fotouh leads the race in the US constituencies of Washington, Houston and Chicago, while Shafiq won the highest number of votes in New York and Los Angeles.

Polling stations set up overseas were scheduled to begin vote counting after voting ended for Egyptians abroad at 8 pm on 17 May, according to rules set by the Presidential Elections Commission.

The results are set to be announced when the vote-counting process ends. Voting in Egypt will open Wednesday and Thursday.

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Former spy chief does not back specific candidate, supporters say

by admin
May 21st, 2012

Former spy chief Omar Suleiman’s supporters have said he does not support a specific candidate in the presidential race, scheduled to start Wednesday and Thursday.

The Presidential Elections Commission had previously disqualified Suleiman, who also served as vice president under Hosni Mubarak, from running in the race over endorsement documents he submitted that it said were falsified.

Candidates had to collect 30,000 endorsements signed by citizens in 15 governorates or obtain the support of 30 MPs to apply for their presidential bids.

On their Facebook page, Suleiman’s campaigners said he has not given statements in support of any current candidates and described news reports claiming he did as “baseless.”

Suleiman would not hesitate to openly announce his support for a candidate if he decides on one, they said.

Suleiman’s candidacy had enraged political and revolutionary groups who believed that figures linked to the regime of toppled President Hosni Mubarak should not be allowed to resurface on the political scene.

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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