Jordan Times (News Section)

Egypt sets new conditions for presidential candidates =

CAIRO (AFP) =97 The Egyptian parliament Wednesday = approved=20 three amendments to an electoral bill, amid opposition protests = the ruling=20 party was seeking to bar credible rivals to long-standing = President Hosni=20 Mubarak.=20

Kamal Shazli, the minister of state for parliamentary affairs, = told the=20 house the new conditions for presidential candidates were demanded = by=20 Mubarak, who is widely expected to seek a fifth term in the = September=20 polls.

"Amendments were brought in at Mubarak's request requiring that = any=20 candidate must prove he has a clean financial record, a = certificate=20 showing he performed his military duties and a signed declaration=20 certifying he does not hold a second nationality," he said.

The final electoral law is due to be voted on Thursday, after = which it=20 will be submitted to Egypt's constitutional committee for = approval. On May=20 25, Egyptians took part in a referendum and overwhelmingly = approved a=20 constitutional amendment proposed by Mubarak under domestic and=20 international pressure and paving the way for the first = multi-candidate=20 presidential polls in decades.

An emboldened opposition, which has supported an unprecedented = string=20 of anti-Mubarak protests, charges that the conditions set by the=20 authorities effectively rule out competition.

The clause on nationality was added after opposition parties = alleged=20 that the ban on dual nationality which applies for all other = Egyptian=20 polls was deliberately "forgotten" in this case to pave the way = for=20 Mubarak's son Gamal.

Gamal Mubarak, who heads the political committee of his = father's ruling=20 National Democratic Party (NDP), may hold British nationality = through his=20 mother Suzanne, who is half Welsh.

Dustour newspaper, an independent opposition weekly, carried a = headline=20 Wednesday that read: "Tell us honestly, does Gamal Mubarak hold = British=20 nationality?"

The change to the electoral bill, nevertheless, allows anyone = to waive=20 his other nationality before officially registering his candidacy. =

The apparent grooming in recent months of the 42-year-old Gamal = Mubarak=20 for his father's succession has angered the pro-reform movement. =

Another dual national who has expressed interest in running in = the=20 upcoming presidential polls is prominent US-Egyptian intellectual = and=20 rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim.

An electoral commission which has yet to be set up will decide = on the=20 exact date of the elections and the deadline to register = candidates.

The composition of the 10-member commission has also drawn the = ire of=20 opposition parties.

Five members will be judges, while the remaining five will be = prominent=20 public figures to be chosen by parliament, prompting questions = over the=20 impartiality of a body half-appointed by the NDP-dominated house. =

Thursday, June 16, 2005