Presidential hopeful and former ambassador Abdallah al-Ashaal fiercely criticized Amr Moussa and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Thursday. He said that the Mossad had appointed Moussa as foreign minister and left him ten years in the office, the longest term in the history of the ministry. Ashaal told a group of Egyptian youths at a sports club in Sharqiya Governorate, his home province, that former President Hosni Mubarak headed a gang that included Moussa himself. He ruled out the possibility of Moussa's success in the upcoming presidential elections, saying, "It is impossible to see him in this position." He added that he would reveal Moussa's abuses when the time was right. Ashaal said the current Sharaf government "[is] not fit for any stage," and that he took the prime minister position to destroy the country in the transitional period. Ashaal called on Sharaf to leave immediately, calling him the "powerless" and the "accomplice." He criticized the amendments to Article 76 of the constitution regarding requirements for presidential nominees, saying that they allow for a "goat" to run for president. Ashaal went on to define his five conditions for a presidential candidate: to not be one of the pillars of the former Mubarak regime, to have resided in Egypt five years before the nomination, to excel in the Arabic, English and French languages, to not be a military officer, and to have both political and management experience. Translated from the Arabic Edition
