CAIRO, 27 February 2005 — Egypt’s constitution will be amended to allow multicandidate presidential elections in September, President Hosni Mubarak announced yesterday. Mubarak said in a speech at Menofiya University, north of Cairo, that amending Article 76 of the constitution will give a chance for political parties to run for presidential elections and provide guarantees that allow more than one candidate for the people to choose from.
Under the current Egyptian constitution, a candidate for presidency has to win two-thirds of the vote in a Parliament dominated by the National Democratic Party headed by Mubarak before putting his or her name to a referendum. This system has been in force since 1952.
“If it happens, it would be the first time in the political history of Egypt that a chance is given to somebody who is capable of shouldering the responsibility ... to come forward for presidential elections with parliamentary and popular support,” Mubarak said.
“This fundamental change is the product of political stability,” the president added, stressing that the “right arm of democracy is a free press.”
Hafez Abou Saeda, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, welcomed the proposed changes. “It is a good and unpredicted step that will give Egyptian a chance to choose their leader,” he said, adding that people should seize this opportunity to enjoy more democracy.
The editor in chief of the weekly Al-Shaab and member of the banned, but tolerated, Muslim Brotherhood, Magdi Hussein, said the move was a victory for and a concession to increasing opposition calls within Egypt to have multiparty presidential elections.
“A few days ago, Mubarak rejected demands to open the presidential balloting to other candidates and now he calls for amendments to the constitution, which means we have won our first battle,” Magdi said. “The next step should be limiting presidents to a maximum of two consecutive terms in office.”
Opposition parties supported Magdi’s view, saying the amendments proposed by Mubarak did not include limiting the powers of the president and did not let any citizen run for elections. “Only members of political parties will be authorized to run and the final list of candidates will be decided by a higher committee of judiciary and public figures,” said Aboul Ella Madi, head of Hizb Al-Wasat Al-Gedid (the New Center party).
Five activists have been working on collecting one million signatures on a petition calling on Parliament to amend the constitution to have multiparty presidential elections.
Sherif Hetata, writer and husband of feminist Nawal Al-Saadawi who has announced her plan to take part in the presidential race, said Mubarak’s announcement would not change the situation as long as the state did not abolish laws that restrained political freedom. “What happened is just a concession to the internal and external pressure particularly from the United States,” said Hetata. “The president just wanted to show the world some creditability.”
According to Hetata, the state has to guarantee that it will not interfere in favor of Mubarak by preventing supporters of opposition candidates from casting their votes. Potential rivals should also be given enough time to prepare for their campaigns and people should not be afraid to vote.
“I think that the timing of the decision is also late and many people would still vote for Mubarak because they do not know enough about the other candidates,” Hetata told Arab News. Indeed, thousands of people who attended Mubarak’s speech at Menofiya University broke into spontaneous applause after his announcement, with shouts of “Long Live Mubarak, Mentor of Freedom and Democracy.”
“It is a great step toward reforms, but I would still vote for Mubarak next September,” said Khaled Metwali, a 28-year old engineer. “I do not know the other people and cannot take the risk of voting for anybody else.”
Others interviewed by Arab News stressed that they would take part in the upcoming elections. “It is history in the making and I’m glad that like the United States and Europe we will have a say in choosing our leader,” said Amira Ibrahim, a 42-year-old teacher.
Muhammad Farid Hassanein, the first person to submit an election program in Parliament, said the announcement was not enough. The government should cancel the emergency law and allow the UN to monitor the election.
