One of two main challengers to President Hosni Mubarak in next month's elections said Sunday that if elected, he would abolish Egypt's emergency laws and release all political prisoners. But Noaman Gomaa, a law professor who leads the New Wafd Party, told reporters he would not let the Muslim Brotherhood stand as a party in elections. "We reject any party founded on a religious basis," Gomaa said, referring to Egypt's biggest Islamic group. "They should be left as a religious social group, one that spreads the principles of Islam."The Brotherhood's political role has long been problematic. Although tolerated, the Brotherhood is outlawed and cannot contest elections. Many Egyptians who favor greater democracy fear that if the Brotherhood were allowed to run, it win overwhelmingly. Echoing current government policy, Gomaa said that if the Brotherhood wanted to take part in politics, it should support independent candidates or ally itself with an existing party. By endorsing nominally independent candidates, the Brotherhood has 15 seats in the 454-member parliament and is the largest opposition bloc. In the 1984 elections, Gomaa's New Wafd allied itself with the Brotherhood and won 58 seats in parliament. Today the Wafd has four seats.
Gomaa, 70, and Ayman Nour, 40, a former Wafd member who leads the Al-Ghad party, are the biggest names standing against Mubarak, 77, in elections scheduled for Sept. 7.
| Lemme see, here. Hosni, at 77, is getting to the point where he's going to fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Antiquities. He and Gomaa, assuming they get along, can share Grecian Formula. An actuary would expect one or both to be pushing up daisies five years from now. It doesn't look like Nour's got much of a chance, which means the Land of Denial won't be bubbling over for another year or two. |