CAIRO: Egypt's press last week centered around the upcoming Parliamentary elections and the debate over international monitoring, highlighting statements by the British Ambassador related to his country's position on monitoring the elections. Local media also highlighted demonstrations by opposition movements against the significant hike in food prices and the Coptic community abroad's upcoming conference this week, while it mentioned that this year marks the 30th year for President Hosni Mubarak in power. Local press reported statements by the British Ambassador to Cairo, Dominic Asquith, that he did not send a request to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to monitor the parliamentary elections or the next presidential elections. He said that the embassy would “continue to follow up with the next election.” These statements came during the press briefing he held with a number of journalists at his office last week. Asquith cited comments from Ali Eddin Hilal, the Secretary of the Committee of Information of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which he said he expected foreign embassies to follow up and observe the elections. Asquith denied that there are interventions being made by his country in any internal matters in Egypt. His remarks cited the NDP, which says that the elections will be free and fair, saying, “there is no concern about it.” He stressed that his country welcomes the participation of parties in political life because it supports the stability of Egypt, where “it comes from the consent of the people on the government and the approval of the government comes from participating in political life,” stressing that his country will support all committed to stability in Egypt, pointing out that with regard to full democracy and whether Egypt applies it or not, “it cannot be determined where on the scale of democracy in the world Egypt is.” Al-Masry al-Youm, last week, published what can be described as a chronicle of Mubarak`s years in power, as the month of October 2010 marks the 30th year for Mubarak in power. The newspaper said that Mubarak has “spent 30 years ruling Egypt, as he formally took office in October 14th, 1981, and the last 5 years has seen the first presidential elections with more than one candidate, as his fifth term was the first to present a program, which is linked to an electoral timetable in the elections of the year 2005.” A group calling itself the “May 4 Group” held a pause in solidarity on Thursday, in front of Al-Nour mosque in Abbassiya, to support the {resident, and call for a new term. While Egypt is undergoing a political debate, it has not been decided yet whether Mubarak plans to run for a 6th term in September 2011. Official statements issued by the government stresses that the “program of President Mubarak provided 4.3 million jobs, 4.5 million of the total opportunity targeted by the electoral program.” A report issued by the Central Auditing Agency in 2008 claimed 8.5 million people “went out from below the poverty line, but some 6.5 returned to it again because of the global financial crisis.” In contrast, Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed, a professor of political science at the University of Cairo, said that the state's 5th presidential term “has seen a lot of mistakes,” pointing out that the numbers of economic growth “have not reflected on the lives of the Egyptians, under the policy of economic liberalization, which is linked to administrative corruption,” and considered that these reasons are enough to “not to see the Egyptian citizen in the hope of changing this situation, if, President Mubarak stayed in power.” Abdullah Al-Ashaal, former Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, described the President's fifth presidential term as “difficult,” citing what he called “corruption and deterioration of the economy and the situation of agriculture and industry.” In a different context, local press pointed to a protest organized by a number of political movements including the Kefaya Movement, 6th of April Youth Movement, and the Youth Movement for Justice and Freedom, Egyptian Women for Change and the Revolutionary Socialists, in front of the Ministry of Social Solidarity on October 25 to denounce high food prices. Activist Karima al-Hefnawi stressed that the protest comes amid a series of stances organized by the Joint Coordinating Committee between “the political forces against social issues and important policy issues, and the National Assembly for Change received nearly 115,000 signatures and promoted the signing of the statement of change, ‘together we will change', a campaign of door-knocking,” which is overseen by Mohamed Ghoneim, a top leader in the National Assembly to Change. Local press also highlighted the statements of Magdi Khalil, the President of the International Coptic Solidarity Organization and the Director of the Middle East Forum for Freedoms that the organization will hold a press conference this week in Washington DC, at the headquarters of the International Press Center and will be attended by representatives from the international press and experts from the United States to talk about the “dangers and violence expected to occur in Egypt during the transition period to power and the evolution of the events of sectarian strife and the status of Copts in Egypt.” The conference will distribute a press release for the definition of the international community on what is happening now in Egypt and the “events of sedition and inflammation of the situation between Muslims and Copts, and his call for support of freedoms in Egypt and the rights of minorities and how they contribute to calming the situation, forecast scenarios for the elections.” BM
