CAIRO: Hundreds of Egyptian-Americans protested on May 1 in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, DC in solidarity with opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei calling for change in Egypt. It was the first collective action organized by the National Assembly for Change in the United States and comes as Egyptians across the world demand change in the North African country. ElBaradei's coalition also announced that it was opening a number of offices across the US. The main bureau will be in the American capital, with representatives in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Michigan also opening small branches. Mohamed Aboul-Ghar, the communications coordinator for Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly for Change said that this demonstration “was to assert the national demands of the assembly and the right of Egyptians abroad to vote in the Egyptian elections.” He added that the assembly in the US would hold a number of special events in the country in the near future, “until the Egyptian government responds to the voice of Egyptian-Americans who demand real democracy and free elections in Egypt.” Under American law, however, citizens are not permitted to vote in foreign elections. However, a US State Department official told Bikya Masr that because of the nature of the Egyptian law regarding citizenship, “we will not stand in the way of their voices being heard.” The official added that according to Egyptian law, any Egyptian male who is born to an Egyptian father is “always considered an Egyptian citizen and only an Egyptian citizen by the Egyptian government and if we did not allow them to have their vote or voices heard, then this would be wrong.” Following the demonstration, the Coalition of Egyptian Americans held a symbolic presidential election in front of the Egyptian Embassy with several potential candidates such as Mohamed ElBaradei, Gamal Mubarak, Ayman Nour, Hamdeen Sabahy, Amr Moussa and Botrous Ghali. ElBaradei won the mock election, garnering 74 percent of the votes. Ayman Nour came in second with 14 percent and the rest getting votes ranging between 2 and 6 percent. The National Assembly for Change has adopted 7 demands in their call for change: an end to the state of emergency; the empowerment of the Egyptian judiciary to supervise the judiciary; enabling organizations – Egyptian and international – of overseeing the elections; enabling Egyptians abroad to vote; and to provide an opportunity for all candidates to interact with citizens. BM
