A weekly poll showed former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa leading the field of 13 candidates for the May 23 race. Moussa, who also served as foreign minister, secured the backing of 41.1 percent of those surveyed, according to the study conducted by Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies and published yesterday in the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper. Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, backed by the largest Salafi bloc in Parliament, was second with 27.3 percent.

The official start of campaigning comes at a critical juncture for Egypt, with the ruling military council under growing pressure from Islamists and secularists concerned it will renege on pledges to hand over power to a civilian administration while efforts to draft a new constitution led to fresh objections within Parliament.

Egypt’s planning and international cooperation minister said she was unaware of plans to reshuffle the Cabinet, contradicting earlier remarks by the parliamentary speaker that the change would be announced by the ruling military council.

“As far as I know, there is not going to be a ministerial change,” Fayza Aboulnaga told reporters yesterday. She said she couldn’t comment on remarks by Parliament Speaker Saad El-Katatni Sunday that he’d been told by the ruling generals that a change would be announced within 48 hours. One day has passed, so “why don’t we wait another 24 hours,” she said. The proposed reshuffle, which would be limited, “adds to the instability which reflects negatively on the macro scene,” Mona Mansour, an analyst with investment bank CI Capital, said in an e-mailed note. “This could delay receiving the IMF loan,” she said.The government is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over a $3.2 billion loan.

FROM: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A parliamentary committee Sunday rejected the framework for the selection of a panel to draft the constitution, drawing a rebuke from the military council’s civilian advisory body, the state-run the Middle East News Agency reported.

The outline for the panel’s makeup was crafted by the military council and political groups last week, after the earlier committee was effectively disbanded following a court ruling. The objections may mean that the constitution won’t be completed in time for the planned end-of-June handover of power to a civilian government and that a president would come into office without clear guidelines on his authority.