State-owned flagship daily Al-Ahram tops its front page today with something that has become a fairly regular feature in recent weeks: aggressive pre-election talk from Safwat al-Sherif. The former longtime Minister of Information al-Sherif was pushed aside several years ago in the name of a new blood movement partially launched by Gamal Mubarak. But he's still an internal force as secretary-general of the National Democratic Party and head of the Shura Council. He's also, apparently, one of the NDP's main point men for the coming parliamentary elections. On Wednesday's front page, al-Sherif is hammering home a pair of very familiar messages. The dual headline reads: “NDP refuses any foreign interference in domestic matters/Al-Sherif: No mixing politics with religion.” In the article, al-Sherif apparently seeks to fend off the recent American government push for general all-around Egyptian domestic reform. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Michael Posner ruffled a few feathers last week by coming to Cairo and strongly stating a US preference for international polling station monitors and the repeal of the Emergency Law. Today's Al-Ahram article states that al-Sherif's comments are “a response to Michael Posner,” and then quotes him as saying, “the elections will take place within the framework of the law…and they will be transparent and credible.” Al-Sherif also takes time out for the daily, “no mixing politics and religion” comments--something government people are saying so often these days that you wonder if they just have a shortcut key for the phrase in the Al-Ahram editing room. Independent daily Al-Shorouk puts the same al-Sherif press conference on top of its front page, but with a slightly more provocative headline: “The national party criticizes Washington for requesting international monitors for the elections.” There's also news of the Wafd Party's electoral machinations. With the parliamentary vote about six weeks away, the Wafd Party has unveiled the names of 172 candidates who will contest seats in the elections. The list, the article says, is still not complete and more names will be announced in the coming days for the 508 parliamentary seats up for grabs. Al-Shorouk also brings us a front-page picture of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif towering over several crates of tomatoes. Nazif is quoted as saying that the government bears no responsibility for the recent spike in vegetable prices, blaming the trend instead on “weather conditions.” Al-Dostour puts two stories side by side atop its front page: the sentencing of a deputy culture minister to jail over last month's theft of a van Gogh painting, and the abrupt shutdown of several satellite television channels. Mohsen Shalaan, a deputy to Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, received a three-year prison sentence for gross negligence after the US$50 million painting known as “Poppy Flowers” was stolen in broad daylight from the museum that Shalaan was responsible for overseeing. The Al-Dostour headline quotes defense attorneys as claiming that Shalaan's superiors (meaning Hosni himself) refused to give him the necessary resources to properly secure the Mahmoud Khalil Museum. According Shalaan's lawyers, he and the museum's security director requested a security contingent of more than 100 people, and were instead granted 44. The second top stories involve NileSat's seemingly sudden decision to no longer broadcast four satellite channels. The affected channels are: Al-Khalifa, Al-Hafez, Beauty and Health, and The People. The Dostour article states that no formal reason has been given for the cancellation. Egypt's papers: Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run Rose el-Youssef: Daily, state-run, close to the National Democratic Party's Policies Secretariat Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party Youm7: Weekly, privately owned Sawt el-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
