Four presidential hopefuls have called for the replacement of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's caretaker government with a more technocratic, crisis management government. In a joint statement on Thursday, Mohamed ElBaradei, Hamdin Sabbahi, Ayman Nour and Hisham Bastawisi denounced the government's sluggishness and circumvention vis-a-vis the demands of the revolution, as well as the threatening tone of the military council in its last statement. They also expressed their support for demonstrations taking place across the country and stressed that they should remain peaceful. The statement, which was signed by 25 political movements, called on the military council to protect the demonstrators, stop trying civilians before military courts, and cleanse the ministries of interior, justice and information of all forms of corruption. It also called for the expedition of trials for police officers accused of killing demonstrators during the revolution, and a revision of the state budget to take social justice issues into account. Presidential candidate Amr Moussa, for his part, agreed with the statement aside from calling to dismiss the current government, which he said needs to be given a chance, especially after the recent cabinet reshuffle. Translated from the Arabic Edition
