Egypt readies for the first post-revolution presidential race and Damascus and Sanaa, though embroiled in revolutions, are going in opposite directions. Doaa El-Bey and Gamal Nkrumah peruse the print Newspapers monitored the race for the presidency. Al-Ahram on Monday had 'Nominations for presidency from 10 March to 8 April', and Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday headlined 'New political battle over consensual president'. Newspapers also focussed on the report issued by the parliamentary's Health Committee on the condition of the hospital in Tora Prison and whether it was equipped to treat Hosni Mubarak who is supposed to be transferred to it soon. Al-Akhbar's banner on Monday had 'Parliament Health Committee: Tora Hospital ready to admit Mubarak' and Al-Shorouk on Tuesday stated 'Parliament decides to transfer Mubarak to Tora'. Illegal foreign funding to some NGOs, the arrest of some foreigners including 19 Americans in relation to the issue together with the controversy raised over US aid to Egypt was still far from being resolved this week. The front page of Al-Wafd on Monday quoted the deputy head of the US Chamber of Commerce as saying US aid would continue and any threats to stop it were not made at the official level. The editorial of the official daily Al-Ahram said that amid high hopes that Egypt would continue on its path toward democracy, "Egypt is getting ready for the first post-revolution presidential race. Most people are depending on the next president to help Egypt get past the post-Mubarak era with the least damage and to cooperate with the parliament to achieve the people's demands," the editorial added. However, the edit expected that the selection process would be tough and long. The people are required to choose the most suitable candidate for the job, a person who possesses the experience and the will to make a complete change. The editorial did not rule out that some parties will try to interfere in the presidential race and change its course according to their interests. However, the edit concluded that the people will be the only party that chooses the next president in the end. Alaa Uraibi asked whether the next president should be elected or selected by consensus. The consensual selection is an elitist option presented by some powers that are incapable of competing via the ballot box or who are not willing to strengthen themselves before the next elections. "The most negative aspect of the consensual president is depriving the people of their right to elect their president," Uraibi wrote in Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party. In addition, it indicated that those who call for consensus are still thinking like the previous regime or in the same logic of dictators who like to govern unilaterally and reject democracy or the multi-party system. However, he asked whether the alternative to a consensual president is an absolute hegemony of the Islamic trend. Uraibi added the new constitution was the only way out of a consensual president or a president that belongs to the Islamic trend. If the constitution boosts the principle of a democratic civil state based on equality and a multi-party system, it will be the protective wall against the autocracy of any trend or political power. Akmal Qortam believed the presidential elections were heading towards an impasse because they will be held in the absence of a complete constitution. The election of a president, Qortam explained, under the present constitutional declaration would bring a president that has all the authorities stipulated in the 1971 constitution. Qortam wondered in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm how the presidential candidate will present a programme to the people when he does not know either his role or his authority. "Evaluating the performance of the president will be impossible because his performance is judged according to the role given to him. And that role depends on the authorities granted to him by a constitution that has not yet been drafted," Qortam wrote. While he acknowledged that drafting a constitution is not easy and needs time, awareness and vision, Qortam suggested that the only way out is to elect a transitional president who would rule in the period in which the constitution is being drafted. In that case, Qortam added, the candidates would present their programmes or vision of the transitional period which could stretch for two years. Then the elected president could focus during his term on stabilising the state's political institutions, purging its managerial bodies, fixing the economy and drafting the desired constitution. However, he concluded, such a president would not have the right to run for another presidential term so as not impose his will on the new constitution. Eissa Morshed wrote US aid and illegal foreign funding to some NGOs had topped the issues engaging the public. However, Morshed said it was impossible to look at the issue of the aid without also looking at Egyptian national security. Given that no state gives money to another without anything in return, the question that Morshed raised in the official daily Al-Akhbar was what was the US aid in return for. The simple answer: for services that serve US national security. "The US aid is a cover to achieve US and Israeli goals and interests that conform to US national security, regardless of Egyptian security," Morshed wrote. Morshed called for giving up the aid in order to preserve Egypt's national security. Emadeddin Hussein expected that Egypt-US differences regarding the NGOs issue would be resolved soon -- which it will according to nearly confirmed information -- after the Egyptian government grants these organisations a permit to carry out their activities legally in Egypt. That step will be followed by reaching a formula to release all detainees in the case. The third step, according to the writer, would be to amend the laws organising the work of these organisations especially regarding funding and drawing a line between human rights and political activities in a way that would allow the Egyptian government to supervise them. "The crisis will end soon, though we do not know whether the Americans would go to court on 26 February or stay in the refuge of their embassy in Garden City until the case is settled and then leave directly to their country," Hussein wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk. However, he added, if that happens, Egyptians will have the right to ask their government one basic question: why were they released after all these accusations supported by investigations that they had conspired against national security and tried to divide the country into four parts? If the court releases them, Hussein concluded, the government would be required to explain to the people why it escalated the crisis in the first place. But if the government allows them to leave without a court verdict, it would be left with two options: either distract attention from the issue by creating another controversy somewhere else or acknowledge that all the leaked information about them was right. In that case, the government should punish rather than release them.
