CAIRO-A key supporter of a political reform campaign led by former chief of the UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday that their group would ask Egyptians to “peacefully” take to the streets, once two million have signed a "change document". "The change document is an indicator of Egyptians' desire for reform. Therefore, when we get one or two million signatures, this means that Egyptians are poised to take to the streets to request political change," said Hassan Nafaa, the co-ordinator of ElBaradei's National Coalition for Change. Nafaa was speaking at a public meeting, organised by the banned Muslim “Brotherhood in the Nile province of Beheira. He added that the Government's insistence on ignoring the calls for change” could lead to a public explosion. "Neither ElBaradei alone nor the Muslim Brotherhood alone can create change. The people should unite their calls for change if only for the sake of their country," said Nafaa, a professor of political sciences at Cairo University. ElBaradei returned to his home country earlier this year after more than 20 years abroad and formed the National Coalition for Change, which has drafted a “Change Document” with seven reformatory demands. Among these demands are a mending the Egyptian Constitution to let independent candidates run for presidency, allowing Egyptian abroad cast their ballots in elections, and judges to supervise the to polls. "Around 290,000 have signed the change document so far, since its launch earlier in July. Thousands join the campaign every day," said Gamal Heshmat, a senior Islamist and former MP. The Muslim Brotherhood, a banned-yet-influential opposition power, is leading the campaign to collect signatures for ElBaradei's document. "The Egyptian people's awareness of the issue of political change is increasing. The only thing remaining is that the Government responds to the people's demands," Heshmat said. However, Heshmat confirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood would not boycott the forthcoming parliamentary elections later this year until there was consensus on the boycott from all political factions. "Running for elections is a responsibility towards by the people. No-one can get away from this responsibility," Heshmat said. The Brotherhood is officially banned in Egypt, but often runs candidates in Egyptian elections as independents. In this way, it won one-fifth of the seats in the 2005 parliamentary elections. The Brotherhood ha previously announced its support for ElBaradei's efforts towards reform, especially after the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said that the Brotherhood has a right to participate in the political process. The Egyptian Constitution bars the formation of any political party on religious grounds, forcing the Brotherhood, which controls 88 seats in Parliament, to run its candidates as independents.
