Signing up

Gamal Essam El-Din reports on the ongoing campaigns promoting presidential bids by both Gamal Mubarak and ex-IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei

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Human rights activist and sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim announced on Sunday that he had no objection to Gamal Mubarak standing as a presidential candidate in 2011. Ibrahim's announcement followed a 29 August meeting with Magdi El-Kordi, the coordinator of the so-called Popular Coalition for the Support of Gamal Mubarak (PCSGM) which is collecting signatures in support of a presidential bid by Gamal Mubarak.

"I signed in support of Gamal Mubarak because I believe that every Egyptian has the right to run in presidential elections," said Ibrahim, the director of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Development Studies. "Should Gamal Mubarak come to power via fair and free elections it cannot be considered an inheritance of power from father to son."

Ibrahim, long a ferocious critic of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak and of the bequest of power to his son, was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of tarnishing the image of Egypt and of accepting illegal foreign donations. Though the charges were subsequently dropped three years ago he was forced to live abroad when a number of lawyers filed cases against him, accusing Ibrahim of inciting America to cut its annual economic assistance to Egypt to protest what he called "the regime's undemocratic practices and human rights violations". Ibrahim, who holds dual American-Egyptian nationality, returned to Egypt three weeks ago and plans to leave for America again this weekend.

Ibrahim's most recent comments attracted the ire of the National Assembly of Change (NAC), founded last February by Mohamed El-Baradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who is leading a campaign to reform the constitution under the slogan "Together for Change".

NAC coordinator Hassan Nafaa told the Associated Press that "Ibrahim has either lost his mind or reached a deal with the regime". George Ishaq, coordinator of the dissent movement of Kifaya, told Al-Ahram Weekly that "Ibrahim's new position is a complete change of tack."

"He was the most ferocious critic of inheritance of power and led campaigns against President Mubarak and his son in the foreign press," said Ishaq. "The 360 degree change in his position might be due to the fact that he is getting older and wants to return to Egypt without facing any troubles with the regime."

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood also issued a statement condemning what it called Ibrahim's pro-Gamal Mubarak position.

In response, Ibrahim said "it is sad that some people have misinterpreted my support for organising fair and multi-candidate presidential elections as support for the person of Gamal Mubarak".

"All I said was that I supported the right of all Egyptians, including Gamal Mubarak, to submit presidential bids. It is quite impossible for me to endorse particular candidates without first studying their election manifestos. And I still believe that presidential elections can never be marked with integrity without first amending articles 76, 77 and 88 of the constitution."

PCSGM coordinator El-Kordi said his meeting with Ibrahim came as part of the coalition's attempts to gather support for Gamal Mubarak. According to El-Kordi, PCSGM has so far collected more than 100,000 signatures in support of their campaign. "Also, thanks to us, more than 26 movements have sprung up all over the country, all of them aiming to gather the widest possible popular support for Gamal Mubarak."

Other pro-Gamal Mubarak movements also continued to collect signatures from ordinary citizens all over Egypt. In Cairo, the so-called "Egypt Looks for a New Beginning Campaign" used the Mawaed Al-Rahman (mercy tables) it organised in the district of Gammaliya to collect signatures, while in the Nile-Delta governorate of Gharbiya, the so-called "Gamal Mubarak's Supporters Campaign" said they had been collecting 1,000 signatures a day.

Meanwhile, the so-called National Association for Stability and Development, an organisation in New York that is promoting a Gamal Mubarak presidential bid, launched a campaign in Alexandria last week under the title "Yes to Gamal Mubarak... yes to stability and development". The campaign included distributing posters of Gamal Mubarak in Alexandria's main streets and squares.

Gamal Mubarak, who recently appeared on TV Channel One's talk show "Egypt Today" and paid a well-publicised visit to a village in the Nile-Delta governorate of Beheira, declined to comment on the campaigns. Footage was broadcast on Egypt's official television channels of Mubarak sharing Iftar with a poor village family and shaking hands with young people. He strongly defended the government and the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) record of support for the poor.

Independent commentators view the continuation of the pro-Gamal Mubarak campaigns in the face of NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif's denial of any party support as evidence of divisions within the ruling party and a growing rift between the old guard, which wants President Mubarak to stay, and a new generation of businessmen and young leaders, who want President Mubarak to step aside to allow his son to take over.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Arab League and former foreign minister Amr Moussa told Reuters this week that he might submit a presidential bid in 2011 should President Hosni Mubarak decide to step down.

The proliferation of pro-Gamal Mubarak campaigns and coalitions has not prevented NAC and pro-Mohamed El-Baradei's campaigners from stepping up their activities. In a rally held on 27 August in the North Cairo district of Shubra El-Kheima, NAC activists called upon opposition forces to boycott the upcoming People's Assembly elections.

"If NAC's seven-article manifesto for change is rejected we will issue a public call to boycott the elections," said NAC activist Hamdi Qandil.

Nafaa has urged the Muslim Brotherhood and the Coalition of Egyptian Opposition Parties (CEOP), which includes Wafd, Tagammu, the Nasserists and the Democratic Front, to adopt a unified position.

"If our demands for fair and free elections are rejected, let us all boycott the coming polls, collect more signatures in support of the change manifesto, organise street protests and even call for civil disobedience," Nafaa said.

On 28 August Rifaat El-Said, chairman of the Tagammu Party, discussed "CEOP's document on guarantees required for fair and transparent elections" with Safwat El-Sherif. El-Sherif said he would submit the CEOP document to President Mubarak and other NDP leaders to discuss before the party gave any answer. NDP officials have announced on several occasions that the CEOP's list of guarantees are unacceptable.

The CEOP's document calls on President Mubarak to amend the 1956 law on the exercise of political rights in order to place parliamentary elections under the supervision of the Court of Cassation. It also calls for the individual candidacy system to be replaced by party lists and for the emergency law to be suspended during the election period. CEOP officials have given NDP leaders until 17 September to respond to their demands.