Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that the Muslim Brotherhood wants Egypt’s next president to have “an Islamic background.” "The candidate that we support will not be a candidate who belongs to a particular Islamist movement, or we would have run ourselves," Badie said, while noting that "the candidate must have an Islamic background.”

ELECTIONS:

1) Egyptian election officials have not yet confirmed date of the upcoming presidential election. Chairman of the presidential election commission expressed hope that the process could be over by the end of May, and attributed the delay in finalizing the elections schedule to the logistical challenges of organizing the expatriate vote.  [BBC, Arabic, 2/22/2012]

2) Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that the Brotherhood wants the next president to have “an Islamic background.” "The candidate that we support will not be a candidate who belongs to a particular Islamist movement, or we would have run ourselves," Badie said, while noting that "the candidate must have an Islamic background.” [Reuters, English, 2/22/2012] [al-Moheet, Arabic, 2/22/2012]

3) Two MPs from the Freedom and Justice Party stormed out of a session of the constitutional and legislative committee on February 21 in objection to the committee’s insistence on maintaining the current version of the law regulating presidential elections. Article 28 of the constitutional declaration in place since March 30 states that the decisions of the presidential elections committee cannot be appealed, and assigns the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court as the head of the committee. The SCAF had issued the law regulating the presidential election four days before the recently elected People’s Assembly was seated, triggering criticism from MPs who accused the SCAF of preempting the parliament’s legislative authority. On February 20, several MPs also expressed concerns about the integrity of the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court Farouk Sultan, who chairs the presidential electoral committee. [The Daily News Egypt, English, 2/22/2012]

NGO INVESTIGATION:

4) The Freedom and Justice Party issued an official statement of support for civil society, citing remarks by the party’s chairman, Mohamed Morsy on February 20: “The FJP supports immediate lifting of restrictions on the establishment and registration of NGOs, so interested groups can work legally and transparently,” Morsy said. “Indeed, Egypt needs the support of NGOs especially in the areas of human development, education, technology transfer and public administration.” [IkwhanWeb, English, 2/20/2012]

5) On February 21, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed hope that the U.S. will soon resolve the crisis with Egypt over its plans to try NGO employees.  "We’ve had a senior team in Cairo in recent days trying to work through the issues so that they can be resolved as soon as possible…I think it’s probably better just to continue the hard work of our engagement and hope that we’ll see a resolution soon," Clinton said. [AFP, English, 2/22/2012]

MUBARAK TRIAL:

6) Hosni Mubarak declined an opportunity to address the court in the last session before the verdict in the seven-month trial in which he faces the death penalty.  The prosecution is asking for the death sentence for Mubarak, usually carried out by hanging in Egypt. Mubarak’s defense team argues that he is still president, and thus can only be tried for treason or in a special court. The judge was expected to set a date for the verdict and sentencing later on February 22. [Washington Post, English, 2/22/2012] [al-Ahram, English, 2/22/2012]

Photo Credit: Reuters

Image: ihvan-leader.jpg