Cairo: Some opposition political parties
in Egypt have launched a year-long initiative to know the
pulse of the people on possible successor to President Hosni
Mubarak.
A group of leaders from political parties and national
forces yesterday announced the foundation of a popular
movement called "Sharik" (participate in English), asking
citizen to choose a presidential candidate.
A website was launched to receive the opinions of the
people. There citizen have to name a presidential candidate of
their choice, write their demands from the candidates they
choose and list the qualities they chose him for.
A senior member in Al-Tajammu Party [National
Progressive Unionist Grouping Party (NPUG), Abd-al-Ghafar
Shukr, invited every citizen to take part in choosing and
nominating the president they want even if he is the nominee
of the ruling National Democratic Party.
Shukr said: "We are not founding a new movement, but
we are cooperating with various standing movements and forces
to invite the Egyptians to take part in choosing their next
president."
"From the data collected, we will prepare a
shortlist of candidates and prepare a platform," he added.
President Mubarak, 81, has been in power for 29 years.
His fifth six-year term ends in 2011.
The process will have four stages. The first
stage will run from April to September to display the names of
the candidates and the demands of the citizens from them.
The second stage will run from the end of September
2010 to February 2011 to announce a 100-name shortlist and
their platforms before calling on citizens to choose only 10
candidates from the 100-name list. The third stage will
continue from March 2011 to June 2011 to choose one candidate
from ten and announce his programme, he added.
"During the fourth stage, which will run from July
2011 until the date of presidential elections, we will
announce the name of the candidate supported by the masses and
the statements of support to him, Shukr concluded.
A representative will be sent in each governorate
to follow-up the process, he said.
The campaign is founded by 13 leaders, including
Abu-al-Ila Madi, the co-founder of the Al-Wasat Party and an
ex-senior member in the Muslim Brotherhood group, Geroge
Iitzhaq, the former coordinator of Kifayah movement, Issam
Sultan, the lawyer who initiated the idea, and Amin Iskandar,
co-founder of the under-foundation Al-Kharamah Party.
PTI
