By Mona El-Nahhas On Sunday, President Mohamed Mursi named senior reformist judge as vice president. Despite landing the second highest job in government, Mekki is not a household name and hardly rated a mention among possible candidates. He stands as the country's first civilian to serve as vice president since the 1952 Revolution. Mekki first made his name as a reformist judge in 2005 when he exposed electoral fraud that marred the then presidential polls. That was not all. Mekki revealed the names of judges who were proved to be involved in the rigging. In his capacity as head of the election-monitoring committee formed by the judges club in 2005 to report any electoral irregularities, Mekki published a black list, including the names of corrupt judges. As a result, Mekki was referred to a disciplinary council on charges of tarnishing the image of the judiciary. However in May 2006, he was acquitted of all charges. Still, Mekki was not silenced. He continued to fight for the independence of the judiciary and to end the executive authority's interference in the work of judges. Mekki led demonstrations calling for the independence of the judiciary and pressed to amend Article 76 of the constitution that was tailor made to pave the way for former president Hosni Mubarak's younger son Gamal to become president. Mekki is the younger brother of current Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki. Born in Alexandria in 1954, Mekki started his career as a central security officer. Later, he joined the general prosecution and was promoted to deputy chief justice of the Court of Cassation. The Mekkis are considered to be affiliated with the Brotherhood due to their Islamist leanings, although they are not official members of the organisation. Anwar El-Sadat took up the post as vice president to Gamal Abdel-Nasser from 1969 to 1970, before taking the post of president himself after Nasser's death. Hosni Mubarak also took up the post from 1975 to 1981. Mubarak did not appoint a vice president for 30 years until Omar Suleiman was appointed in the wake of the 25 January Revolution to please protesters.
