There are 13 candidates for the presidency of Egypt on elections that will take place on the 23rd and 24th of this month. Some of them will certainly drop out before the polls, and support another candidate. Today, I will continue to talk about what I know, after having dealt yesterday with a candidate who was disqualified, General Omar Suleiman, and a candidate still in the race, Amr Moussa. Out of the 13, I know Mousa, Abdel-Monem Abul-Futuh, Salim al-Awa, Ahmad Shafiq, Hamdin Sabahi, Mohammed Mersi and Abdullah al-Ashaal. I had hoped to see Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei in this field; he has all of the required criteria to be the Egyptian president. He is honest, courageous and knowledgeable, with a spotless national and international reputation. His wife Aida seems to have spent her life preparing for the position of First Lady. I knew Dr. El-Baradei when he headed the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, when he stood firm against the pressure from the administration of George W. Bush, the neo-conservatives and Israel, and dealt with the Iranian nuclear program as it was, and not as desired by the enemies of the Arabs and Muslims. He was rewarded by receiving a Nobel Prize for Peace. Every conversation I had with Dr. El-Baradei when he was in Vienna ended with a review of the situation in Egypt. He held the view that Egypt was a failed state, and should be saved. In this, he reminds me of Dr. Ahmad Zoueil, another Nobel Prize winner (Chemistry, in 1999). I had also hoped to see him as a candidate for the Egyptian presidency. When he was outside his country, I found him to be an Egyptian patriot who was concerned about his country, and thought about solutions for the problems of the economy, education and society. Dr. El-Baradei pulled out of the presidential race, which is a loss for Egypt. He is now forming the Dustur (Constitution) Party, and I wish him success, because it will be a success for all of Egypt. A few months before the Egyptian uprising, in this column, I put forward the names of 12 men for Egypt's presidency. Some of them have become wanted by the authorities; there was also one woman, my friend Fayiza Abu Naja, the minister of international planning and cooperation. It is sufficient that Fayiza was a minister in the government of Ahmad Nazif and has retained her post in successive cabinets up to now. The revolutionaries, Islamists and liberals have found nothing against her patriotic, professional work in the ministry. Her reputation has probably been greatly enhanced by her firm stance against the Americans who were working without official permits in Egypt for Egyptian NGOs. I find it likely that Fayiza's popularity has doubled after that confrontation, which I wrote about in February and March of this year. I had hoped to see Fayiza Abu Naja as a candidate, and I certainly would have voted for her, if I were Egyptian, even though I am closer to Amr Moussa, Omar Suleiman and Mohammed El-Baradei; I would choose her because she is a woman, and our women are better than our men. Among the other candidates, I had hoped that Khairat Shater had remained the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, instead of Mohammed Mersi; Shater was more experienced politically than the head of the Freedom Party, and is familiar with the outside world in a way that Mersi is not. He is also a successful businessman and Egypt needs a president who is well-versed in economic matters. Meanwhile, I find Mersi to be hard-line in his positions. He opposed the candidacy of women and non-Muslims for the presidency, on the pretext that Islamic law does not permit this. He has championed the slogan "Islam is the solution," as "our path to a renaissance," although for a true renaissance, Egypt needs to focus on the economy, education and fighting corruption. I had hoped that the Muslim Brotherhood would have chosen Dr. Issam El-Arian, although Mohammed Mersi is much better than the candidate of the Salafists, Hazem Abu Ismail, who was disqualified. He still rejects the decision, in a manner that confirms he is not a democrat, and cannot be one. Instead, he continues to deny that his mother has American citizenship, although this has been proven. This also denies his credibility, at a time when the Egyptian needs to have the citizens' trust, now more than ever. The best remaining Islamist candidate in the field is Dr. Abdel-Monem Abul-Futuh, whose chances for success have risen considerably after the Salafists said they would support him. He is an Islamic moderate, well-versed in economic and foreign policy matters. I have heard him at conferences and have found him to be rational and reasonable. I want an Egyptian president to be as just as the Caliph Omar, and as smart as the warrior Amr bin al-Aas, and as brave as the fighter Khaled bin Walid, leading the entire Arab nation and not just Egypt. [email protected]
