Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said U.S. assistance to Egypt is not “eternal” and “distorts the nature of bilateral relations” between the two countries. “The relations should work in favor of Washington and Cairo, and not in favor of one direction; therefore, we have to build relations anew between the two sides,” he said.

ELECTIONS: 

1) The candidate registration period for the presidential election will open on March 10. The Presidential Election Commission (PEC) has capped campaign spending at a maximum of LE10 million in the run-up to first-stage polling and a maximum of LE 2 million before runoff polls. Voting will take place on May 23-24 followed by a runoff round on June 17-17, in the event that no candidate wins an outright majority. [al-Ahram, English, 3/9/2012] [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 3/9/2012] 

2) The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party announced that it will not formally endorse a presidential candidate until after the close of the candidate registration period running from March 10 through April 8.  [al-Ahram, English, 3/9/2012] [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 3/9/2012] 

3) A Muslim Brotherhood source denied that the group had decided to support presidential candidate Mansour Hassan, after the Wafd Party formally endorsed Hassan on March 8. [al-Ahram, English, 3/9/2012] 

4) Presidential candidate Amr Moussa claimed that the Wafd’s decision to back a rival candidate – Mansour Hassan – was due to political pressure and an unspecified deal with other parties. [al-Ahram, English, 3/9/2012] 

US-EGYPT RELATIONS: 

5) Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said U.S. assistance to Egypt is not “eternal” and “distorts the nature of bilateral relations” between the two countries. “The relations should work in favor of Washington and Cairo, and not in favor of one direction; therefore, we have to build relations anew between the two sides,” he said. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/9/2012] 

CABINET: 

6) Muslim Brotherhood leaders said parliament is likely to call for a vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri. A successful vote of no-confidence in the government would have no legal force under the interim constitution, but it would carry significant political weight. Senior FJP MP Essam al-Arian said, “The military should appoint a new government and should appoint the government that obtained the majority.” [al-Ahram, English, 3/9/2012] 

CONSTITUTION: 

7) The joint parliamentary committee tasked with developing procedures for the constituent assembly has received 210 different proposals outlining criteria for the committee’s 100 members. [al-Masry al-Youm English, 3/9/2012] 

8) Islamist parties have called for abolishing or reducing the 50 percent quota for worker and farmer parliamentary seats in the new constitution.  The FJP and Salafi Asala Party advocate eliminating the quota altogether while the Salafi Nour Party recommends lowering the quota to 25 percent. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/9/2012] 

ECONOMY: 

9) Parliament’s Economic Committee has recommended a devaluation of the Egyptian pound, but the proposal has been rejected by Central Bank officials. [al-Youm al-Saba’a, Arabic, 3/9/2012]

Photo Credit: al-Ahram

 

Image: mohamedamr.jpg