The Egyptians today have a great opportunity to determine their future. Ahmed El-Aktash wrote After the announcement of the referendum results which reflected the view of most Egyptians, ordinary people in streets asked themselves: OK, what's next? In the meanwhile, the politicians and intellectuals were busy thinking about the voting proportions according to which the upcoming elections will be run. It seemed for them that Egypt split into two camps--liberal and religious. Some saw that this formula was expected as the largest political group is actually the Moslem Brotherhood. Because the aim of the amendments of the current constitution is to bring a president with limited powers, many candidates have presented themselves as men of the period who are able to drive the ship of Egypt into calm waters. One of these candidates is Amr Moussa, 75, the Arab League Secretary General, who does not consider himself part of the Mubarak regime. But some see that he was one of the ex-president's closest men who did not make any objections to the then policy and practices. Even as the head of the Arab League, he did not do anything for the crucial Arab issues: Gaza has been under siege for years, Iraq has been occupied, Sudan was divided, etc. So, what difference can he make for Egypt? Another candidate is Mohamed ElBradei, 69, the ex-Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He was the head of the National Assembly for Change, which gathered the majority of opposition groups and parties. However, some see that he spent most of his life outside Egypt and did not touch the concerns of the Egyptians in depth. In addition, some see him as a preacher of a Wester model of democracy alien to the Egyptian society. Other candidates include Abdullah Al-Ashaal, Hesham El-Bastawisy and some other figures. When looking at all these candidates, one may ask himself: Do we need old faces to govern our new Egypt? This is a very important question as the current circumstances require a man who is a manifestation of a revolution which overthrew an old regime along with its aged men. Do we lack alternatives so badly that we have recalled people from the past to lead us to the future? What I see is that new Egypt deserves new revolutionary leaders.
