Egypt's nascent democracy fills the Egyptian press, writes Doaa El-Bey The presidential race officially kicked off on Monday while parliament is pressuring the ruling military council to form a new government. And relations with Saudi Arabia are strained following the arrest of an Egyptian in Riyadh. Al-Masry Al-Youm's banner on Monday summarised the situation: the military council is facing four hot fronts -- the Saudi Embassy is closed, the parliament has suspended its sessions until the government is sacked, parliament rejects the criteria for forming the constituent committee that will draft the constitution and bloody confrontations in Abbasiya. Al-Shorouk's banner on Tuesday had 'El-Ganzouri government will stay and parliament is awaiting surprises from the military council'. Al-Gomhuriya wrote 'The government will stay, and the reshuffle is limited' and Al-Akhbar on Monday had 'El-Ganzouri will stay until the end of the transitional period'. Al-Ahram on Monday headlined 'Military council warns of repercussions of deterioration in Egyptian Saudi relations'. Gamil Afifi wondered why Parliamentary Speaker Saad El-Katatni and members of his Brotherhood party insist on sacking the government with less than two months to go before the presidential elections. "It is clear there is a personal rivalry between El-Katatni and El-Ganzouri. El-Katatni is exerting every effort to sack the government while El-Ganzouri is repeatedly emphasising that he was selected by the military council who has the right to appoint or fire governments according to the constitutional declaration," he wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram. The parliament, Afifi added, let down the people by focussing all its efforts on less important issues like the age of child custody and did not take any measures to ease the suffering of the people. "The people did not revolt to exchange an old regime for a new one working for its interests and imposing its viewpoint on everybody." Writers followed the developments in the presidential race. Adel Sabri tried to decipher the mystery of choosing the new president. He wrote that the race which started with 13 competitors saw a state of confusion among the people on how to choose the next president. He pointed to the reasons, namely that most of the candidates do not have the history, past experience, or clear political stands that would help people in their choice. Sabri wrote in Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Al-Wafd Party, that people have exaggerated fear from the fulul or remnants of the former regime who wanted the son of the deposed president to become president. People also have concerns over the differences within the Islamic trend, especially after hardline statements that say Egypt is heading for the Iranian Islamic model. "People are in a crisis in their attempt to find a president. However, the bigger crisis is how to choose the president," Sabri wrote. He summed up his argument by calling on the people to have more self-confidence, study the programme of each candidate thoroughly and take a decision. "After all, it is not a shame to choose a president that will fail us; the shame is in giving up the tools that would allow us to question and monitor his performance during his term in office." Mohamed Esmat wrote that unless there are last minute surprises, the chances of winning the presidential elections lie between Amr Moussa and Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh. Moussa is a liberal who has long experience as a statesman and strong international relations. Abul Fotouh, Esmat added, represents moderate Islam which is known for tolerance and accepting the other. He pledged to cooperate with the liberals and leftists and respect the rights of Copts and women. However, he is subjected to attacks from people who accuse him of allegiance to the MB and its supreme guide. "The chances of Moussa and Abul-Fotouh are strong because they depend on popular bases and strong voting blocs," Esmat wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk. However, he predicted that Ahmed Shafiq could take a sizeable share of the vote from Moussa and Mohamed Mursi and Selim El-Awwa from Abul-Fotouh. Esmat emphasised that "nobody can predict anything now because the keys of the game are in the hands of the thugs, fulul and counter-revolutionaries. The strain in Egyptian-Saudi ties was downplayed by many writers who described the relation as historic and special. Ismail Badr asked what had happened to the Egyptian people. He questioned why they protest and use swear words in front of the Saudi Embassy because an Egyptian, Ahmed El-Gizawi, was arrested, and why they forgot the relationship that binds the two countries. Esmat called on the government and the Foreign Ministry to intervene quickly. "The Foreign Ministry should have issued a statement regarding the issue. Foreign Minister Amr should have coordinated with the Egyptian ambassador and consul in Saudi Arabia so that their comments would not have contradicted each other," Esmat wrote in the official daily Al-Gomhuriya. He also called on the people who think that protesting could resolve any problem to leave the problem in the hands of the ministry. Esmat advised them to go and work in order to help the ailing Egyptian economy. Farag Abul-Ezz wrote that the tumult of the revolution should not lead us to lose a friendly state and that treating a problem like El-Gizawi's or other prisoners in Saudi Arabia cannot be resolved on talk shows or the media but through diplomacy. However, he criticised the unclear stand of the Foreign Ministry which he said did not act decisively. Abul-Ezz pointed to the fact that the problems of expatriates are diverse and accumulative over the last 30 years. "Thus, there is an urgent need to deal with them starting from the restructuring of our embassies which are being run as ranches that hold parties and receive football teams," he wrote in the official daily Al-Akhbar. Jailan Gabr wrote that protesting in front of the Saudi Embassy is not the same as protesting and attacking the Israeli Embassy. Showing support for an Egyptian citizen, she added could have waited until the results of the investigation are out. "Saudi Arabia has the right to withdraw it ambassador and Egypt has the right to monitor the investigations and take all measures to protect its citizen," she wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. "However the haste that we adopt in dealing with our problems led to a crisis between two states that have good social, economic, political and historic relations."
