The deadline for filing presidential candidacy credentials was Sunday, 8 April at 2:00 PM Cairo time. In the final minutes, the offices of the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) were surrounded by the supporters of several candidate hopefuls arriving to file their paperwork. As the deadline passed, the number of candidate hopefuls had mushroomed to 23!
In an earlier post, we had offered brief biographical summaries of several of the candidates but with the number now greater than we ever imagined we offer two more and for the rest, we suggest that our readers visit ahramonline! http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/36/122/38868/Presidential-elections-/Presidential-elections-news/All-you-need-to-know-about-Egypts-presidential-can.aspx
Mohamed Selim El-Awa
El-Awa is an Islamic thinker, writer and prominent lawyer who has published numerous books, as well as papers and newspaper articles. He was a legal consultant for the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Sudan, Yemen and Pakistan. As the secretary general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, he was a founder of the Arab Muslim-Christian Dialogue group in 1994 and remains a member until today.
During 2011, he denounced mass demonstrations which demanded a transfer of power to a civilian government before the deadline set by SCAF of July 2012. He also declared that he considered protests to be disruptive to the economy.
He is considered to be a reformist who holds a position between the Salafist candidate, Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, and Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, who is viewed as too liberal. He is thought to be open to dialogue and coexistence with those with other political and social views.
Kaled Ali
Ali, at forty-one, is the youngest presidential candidate to join the contest. A well known social justice lawyer, he has defended the rights of peasants, workers and students and has achieved a number of notable victories. In March 2010, he obtained a landmark ruling in a class-action lawsuit that mandated an LE1,200 minimum wage for public-sector workers. He held a position with Cairo’s Legal Assistance Center and was cofounder of the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, a law firm that has since become an influential leader of Egypt’s human rights activities. He has also launched the Coordinating Committe to advocate for workers’ rights, the Front for Defending Egypt’s Protesters and served as the director of the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), a prominent human and labor rights advocacy group. He resigned to run for president.
His support for the revolution and opposition to SCAF, calling for Egypt’s military to remove itself from economic activity, is well known. He emphasizes social equity, wealth redistribution, civil liberties and the revolutionary cause as a continuing struggle. He has gained enthusiastic support from the left and young revolutionaries.
SPEC delays final candidate list
Clearly the SPEC was overwhelmed by the effort required to determine the validity of so many hopefuls and they announced that the final list of Qualified Candidates will now be published on 26 April, not 9 April as originally promised.
We are certain that the delay in releasing the official list will not cause the hopeful candidates to delay their campaigns nor will the pundits and opinion leaders be delayed in stating their opinions and writing commentaries. The drama continues!
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