Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, who is also a likely presidential candidate, said he should not be considered a loyalist of President Hosni Mubarak's former regime. Observers believe Moussa was one of the pillars of Mubarak's regime, having served as his foreign minister for years before being nominated to serve as Arab League chief. In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Moussa said that describing him as "part of the former regime" is inaccurate, adding that he was one of the people with expertise in the Egyptian government and not just another state employee obeying orders. Moussa said he thinks it is quite normal that no one presidential candidate will receive the backing of a majority of Egyptians and that the times when a presidential candidate received 99 percent of even 100 percent of the vote are past us. In a television interview before the revolution, Moussa had said he would vote for Mubarak if he ran in the 2011 presidential election. He also described Mubarak's son and then likely successor Gamal Mubarak as both competent and gracious. In his interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Moussa justified his earlier statements by saying that prior to the introduction of constitution amendments introduced last week, only the president and his son could run for the presidency. He said he trusted that Egyptians would not allow a transition of power to Gamal Mubarak. Moussa ruled out the possibility of establishing a political party in near future, saying that there is little time and much effort required for this, since the election is soon to be held. "The time for setting up a party may come later, but not at the moment," he said. Moussa also said that a presidential candidate should be a politician rather than a scientist, perhaps in a reference to Egyptian Nobel prize laureate Ahmed Zuweil, whose name has also been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. Moussa had earlier said, in the same interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, that he is ready to seek nomination for the presidency calling it his "duty and responsibility." Moussa added that he is currently putting together his election platform, which will be announced at an appropriate time. He said it will result from deliberations and proactive brainstorming with a group of thinkers, and the ideas will be discussed with larger groups in the near future.
