CAIRO - Seven presidential hopefuls denied reports carried by local media that they would call on Egypt's ruling military council to fix an early date for an election for the presidency and may demand the poll be held in February or March, stressing in a statement that they only agreed to hold consultations on issues of national interest. "All reports on our meeting on Tuesday were inaccurate. We have agreed on continuing our meetings to discuss what is the best for Egypt," read the statement carried by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA). The army council which took over after Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11 has pledged to hand power to civilians. But it has yet to set a precise date for a parliamentary poll, which is expected in November, and has not indicated when the presidential poll would be. Activists have been demanding a swifter move towards Egypt's first free votes in decades. "All of us are calling for an early and fixed date for presidential elections and not to stay in a general frame without knowing (a date)," Amr Moussa, the former Arab League chief who is bidding for the presidency, told Reuters. "We talked about February-March," he told Reuters, adding that they would make their call to the military council once they had agreed demands on other issues including the army's decision to extend emergency law and plans for a new electoral law. The group of seven candidates include former UN diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Abul Futouh, formerly a senior member of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood. "In my personal opinion, it is not necessary to impose emergency law at this stage or to extend it," Moussa said, adding that the group planned further meetings to agree on this and other issues. Egypt's military-backed government said it was reactivating emergency law after protesters attacked the Israeli embassy, prompting Israel to fly its ambassador home. Many political activists are worried the laws will be renewed for another six months in October and may hinder the holding of parliamentary elections. The emergency laws were a key plank in clamping down on political dissent during the 30 years of Hosni Mubarak's rule and expanded the powers of his despised security services. Meanwhile, an Egyptian cyber-activist, who was at the centre of the popular uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February, called for a clear roadmap for the transition to democracy. In an open letter to military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who administered the Facebook page that helped spark the launch of the revolt in January, said there was mounting frustration with the pace of reform. "After weeks and months, the mode of governance in our nation has not fundamentally changed and the excuse has been 'stability'", he said in the letter published on Facebook. The military were hailed as heroes at the start of the uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak for not shooting on protesters. But the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which took power when Mubarak stepped down, has come under fire for reneging on reforms and for human rights abuses.
