FORMER head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed el-Baradie is still determined to run in Egypt's next presidential elections, if his conditions for running are met, according to Hassan Nafa'a, an Egyptian political activist. Nafa'a, a professor of politics who is also the general coordinator of “Egyptians Against Political Succession”, a new movement campaigning against rumoured political succession, said some people in the Government were trying to scare el-Baradie away from running for president so that the “required change” would not happen. “Despite this, el-Baradie still thinks that the time is not ripe for his candidacy,” he said. “He thinks this is time Egypt's political powers and movements joined hands to bring about the change Egypt deserves,” he added in an interview with The Egyptian Gazette. El-Baradie, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was quoted by Foreign Policy Magazine a few days ago as saying that he did not want to be president of Egypt. “I have a lot of plans other than being president of Egypt,” el-Baradie said. “However, this issue is coming to me by default; a lot of people are saying that they want me to be engaged in domestic politics …quot; they want me to run for president of Egypt,” he added. Nafa'a, however, said he had called the former IAEA chief to know whether he meant what he said in the interview with the magazine. “It was just a misquote,” Nafa'a quoted el-Baradie as telling him. El-Baradie's drive to run for president in 2011 has become a hot issue for many in Egypt, while the opposition expressed support for him and invited him to be part of the elections. But this seems to have angered others, including the editors of some State-run newspapers and the members of the ruling National Democratic Party, who lambasted him for being away from Egypt for many years. Some of these editors wrote lengthy editorials and articles to say that el-Baradie was “unqualified” for the job. One editor tried to dig deep into el-Baradie's history by saying that he was “not” a clever university student of law. This and other attacks, however, did not scare el-Baradie's supports away. On the contrary, these people seemed to have been encouraged to be more outspoken in their desire to convince el-Baradie to run for president. So far, incumbent President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981, has not said if he will run for a sixth six-year-term in office. But in an interview with the Police Magazine published this week, Mubarak said he welcomed those who wanted to run for president in 2011 as long as they would “serve” the people. So far, el-Baradie has refused to join any of Egypt's political parties. But his supporters continue to gather signatures from Egyptians nationwide for them to lobby for amendments in the constitution that makes el-Baradie's candidacy more likely. “Power isn't el-Baradie's craving,” Nafa'a said. “He just wants to make change and open the door for many in Egypt by creating a new constitution for them,” he added.
