National Association for Change (NAC) leader Mohamed ElBaradei declared Tuesday that Egypt's presence near the top of Foreign Policy's Failed States Index was a "disaster" that demanded the urgent attention of the Egyptian people. ElBaradei noted that the compilers of the list examined two primary factors: lack of regime legitimacy and neglect of human rights. The NAC leader stated that a failed regime at home was by necessity a failed regime abroad, noting that when a regime loses legitimacy among its own people, it also loses it overseas. ElBaradei's remarks were delivered at a meeting held Tuesday evening between members of the NAC and the Egyptian Lawyers Syndicate. At the meeting, ElBaradei was presented with 3211 signatures for his organization's petition collected over the last two months by the Kamel Legal Consulting Firm. A joint work plan was also developed during the meeting by ElBaradei, lawyers and the Independent Popular Campaign to Support ElBaradei for President. The plan called on ElBaradei supporters to collect signatures and make contact with Egyptians throughout the country. The plan stipulated that a focus should be placed on lower-income neighborhoods to raise political awareness throughout Egyptian society. It also specified that more NAC chapters should be opened in Egypt's various syndicates, as was done with the Lawyer's Syndicate. In related news, the Administrative Court in Alexandria is to hold its final session Thursday in a case filed by ElBaradei supporters against the official Registration Office. ElBaradei supporters dispute the office's denial of their requests to confer power-of-attorney privileges upon ElBaradei and other legal scholars to seek constitutional amendments on their behalf. Tomorrow's session will be the court's fourth in the case. In previous sessions, the defense team representing the government had argued that the case was outside the court's jurisdiction, and as such should be referred to the Supreme Administrative Court. In other news, the NAC announced a "state of emergency" in preparation for ElBaradei's scheduled visit to Alexandria on Friday. NAC leader Mahmoud el-Khadiri stated that ElBaradei was expected to join a protest over the recent killing of a young man by police in Alexandria and give his condolences to the victim's family. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
