Choosing the day

On Sunday the Presidential Elections Commission is expected to announce the registration dates for Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential elections, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

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The Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) is expected to meet on Sunday, 24 July to announce the official start date for registering presidential candidate nominations. Osama Atawiya, the commission's spokesman, explained that the registration period would last for a week, with offices open between 8am and 8pm.

"The aim is to allow sufficient time for candidates to be nominated," said Atawiya.

Constitutionally, procedures for the selection of a new president must begin 60 days before the end of the term of the president currently in office. Given that President Hosni Mubarak's most recent term began on 5 October 1999, election procedures can start no later than 6 August. The week-long nomination period is thus likely to begin sometime in the last week of July or the first days in August.

In a public statement Atawiya said that the day after nominations close the commission will announce a preliminary list of candidates. This initial stage will be followed by appeals which might be filed by the public against candidates for any given reason. Only after these have been examined will the final list of candidates be published.

Once these procedures are over -- expected to be some time after the second week of August -- then campaigning will begin. Atawiya said he expected the various candidates to launch their campaigns sometime between 20 and 25 August. Campaigning will continue for 21 days, or two days before the vote. This schedule places election day in the second half of September. AFP, however, reported on Monday that two senior officials had confirmed that the election would be held on the first Wednesday of September, that is 7 September.

"Nobody can guess in advance when the presidential election will be," Mohamed Ragab, Shura Council spokesman for the ruling party, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It is completely the prerogative of the commission."

The commission, headed by Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) Mamdouh Marie, also reviewed procedures regulating television and radio campaigning by the candidates. Atawiya concluded his statement by underlining that article 76 of the constitution and the new presidential election law entrust the commission with the final say on applications by civil society organisations seeking to monitor the elections. The monitoring of presidential elections, said Atawiya, was the commission's major mandate and it is the PEC that will select the judges responsible for supervising the poll.

Delays in concluding presidential election procedures and President Mubarak's decision not to announce whether he intends to run until the PEC opens the doors to registration have drawn criticism from opposition parties. Mubarak's ambiguity, says Abul-Ezz Al-Hariri, deputy chairman of the leftist Tagammu Party, is a calculated step aimed at wrong-footing the opposition.

"The delay works in favour of Mubarak since it denies the opposition the opportunity to begin the campaign early and prepare themselves for the contest."

Al-Ghad leader Ayman Nour says that if the 7 September election date is correct it will allow too little time for candidates to promote themselves. Yet even in the case that elections are that early he still intends to run. "I'll never give them the satisfaction of my withdrawing from the contest," said Nour.

El-Hariri also cast doubt on the neutrality of the PEC. "The fact that the commission is headed by the SCC's chairman and includes several judges," he said, "does not provide guarantees that its members are neutral and do not have links with the government or the ruling party." The committee's members -- five judges and five public figures -- should have been selected, he argues, following consultation with opposition forces and not by a parliament dominated by the ruling party.

The opposition also complains that judicial supervision of the presidential elections will be incomplete. "Judicial supervision will include only the main polling stations while auxiliary ones will be left to state and city council employees as usual," El-Hariri said.

Ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Secretary- General Safwat El-Sherif insisted Mubarak's decision to wait before announcing his decision was "good for political life".

"It helps all candidates compete on an equal footing," said El-Sherif, "in a campaign that will be marked by integrity and transparency."

On Tuesday El-Sherif met with the chairmen of the NDP's 26 provincial offices to discuss what they can do in support of the party's presidential campaign. A second meeting, between the party's six- member steering committee and representatives of the NDP's six main secretariats, is planned for today. Funding for the NDP's presidential campaign, El-Sherif said, will fully comply with the presidential election law and be supervised by the Central Auditing Agency.