Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s former intelligence chief who briefly served as Mubarak’s vice president in the early days of the uprising, has reportedly decided to run for the presidency. Supporters of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq are defecting from his campaign to back Suleiman.
ELECTIONS:
1) Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s former intelligence chief who briefly served as Mubarak’s vice president in the early days of the uprising, has reportedly decided to run for the presidency. Supporters of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq are defecting from his campaign to back Suleiman. [Jerusalem Post, English, 3/23/2012] [al-Masry al-Youm, Arabic, 3/23/2012]
2) Amr Moussa has submitted 65,000 signatures to the High Presidential Election commission (HPEC), becoming the first independent presidential candidate to formally register. The four-week registration period will end on April 8. [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 3/23/2012]
US-EGYPT RELATIONS:
3) The State Department has approved the release of military aid to Egypt, sidestepping congressional conditions by using a national security waiver. The decision will allow at least some of Egypt’s $1.3 billion aid budget to move forward. According to the State Department’s official statement, "These decisions reflect America’s over-arching goal: to maintain our strategic partnership with an Egypt made stronger and more stable by a successful transition to democracy.” [Reuters, English, 3/23/2012] [State Department, English, 3/23/2012]
4) The Social Affairs Ministry announced that it has refused the requests of 20 NGOs since the 25 January uprising for a total of LE21 million in foreign funding, claiming that the requests violated the NGO law. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/23/2012]
CONSTITUTION:
5) The People’s Assembly and Shura Council will convene for a joint session on March 23 to appoint the 100 members of the constituent assembly tasked with writing the new constitution. Political parties and MPs have announced their nominations for the committee. The selection criteria approved last week dictate that fifty of the assembly’s 100 members be current MPs, and the other 50 will be chosen from outside parliament. The criteria, originally proposed by the FJP, have sparked widespread criticism, with 17 public figures and constitutional experts filing a case in administrative court against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and parliamentary speakers Saad al-Katatny and Ahmed Fahmy to halt the decision, claiming it violates the March 2011 Constitutional Declaration. Revolutionary coalitions have called for protests over the weekend to criticize the requirement that half of the committee’s members be drawn from parliament, over concerns that Islamists will dominate the constitutional process. [The Daily News Egypt, English, 3/23/2012] [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 3/23/2012]
Photo Credit: Getty
Image: Mubarak-Suleiman-and-Enan-007.jpg