CAIRO - The Suggestions and Complaints Committee in the People's Assembly (PA [Lower House of Parliament]) on Tuesday agreed on a proposal presented by MP Moustafa Bakri to amend Article 20 of Law 174 issued in 2005, which organises the presidential elections. The proposal calls for allowing presidential candidates to start campaigning as soon as they receive applications and to continue campaigning until two days before voting begins. Many presidential hopefuls were very upset at not being able to start campaigning straightaway, as it is important for them to introduce themselves to the public. In Tuesday's PA session, the Government agreed to the suggested amendment. “We don't mind this amendment,” Omar el-Sherif, deputy minister of justice responsible for legislation, was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) as saying. El-Sherif called for referreing the proposal to the Supreme Constitutional Court, in order to discuss it, according to the Article 28 of the Constitutional Declaration. Bakri said that Public Prosecutor Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud has received several reports of violations by presidential hopefuls, who could be fined and sent to prison, according to the Elections Law. The Elections Law in the Constitutional Declaration prohibits campaigning directly or indirectly via any means of media when registration starts. Meanwhile, presidential hopefuls are still registering – more than 900 have now done so, so far. There have been about 2,000 endorsements made by his loyalists for president Hosni Mubarak, who is in jail, charged with giving orders to kill peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square during the January 25 revolt. He hasn't announced that he will run for the presidency. These loyalists say they want to show their gratitude to him. The campaign team of Hamdeen Sabahi, a presidential hopeful, on Tuesday condemned the persons unknown who attacked employees at the office of the notary public in Beni Sueif. The team called for protecting employees from such attacks, while the Higher Presidential Elections Commission has called on the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior to hold people who attack notaries accountable for their actions.
