Egyptian press discussed many points, including Gameela Ismail assuring Youm7 the church is distributing lists to Coptic Christians with specific election candidates' names, the Egypt Revolution Party calling for the formation of a Presidential Council and Kamal el-Ganzouri's appointment with more authority and powers than Essam Sharaf was given. Youm7: Since the announcement of Kamal el-Ganzouri as head of the National Salvation Council, Twitter and Facebook have been stormed by numerous satiric comments. Some consider him a figure of former Hosni Mubarak's regime while others believe he is the best Prime Minister since Orabi's Revolution. Gameela Ismail, a People's Assembly election candidate in the Cairo governorate, revealed churches are urging Coptic Christians to vote for specific Parliamentary Election candidates by distributing lists with the specific candidates' names on. Ismail also said in her statement that she condemned the use of the former regime's methods by using places of worship to gain votes in the elections. Al-Ahram: The engineers syndicate elections commenced on Friday, November 25 after being banned for 19 years. 31 candidates are running for head of the syndicate while 1,719 candidates are running in all sub-syndicates across 23 governorates. The syndicate's main headquarters witnessed a huge turnout, as engineers expressed their readiness to participate in the elections. The syndicate now has 500,000 members, as well as 25,582 candidates running in the elections. The Egypt Revolution Party called for a Presidential Council headed by Mohamed el-Baradei, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and Hossam Essa. The party refused Kamal el-Ganzouri's appointment as Prime Minister due to his affiliation to the former regime. Al-Masry Al-Youm: The newspaper discussed the appointment of Kamal el-Ganzouri as Prime Minister by Head of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tanatwi, as well as el-Ganzouri's assurance that he only accepted the position after making sure Tanatwi had no intentions to hold on to power. El-Ganzouri ensured he has begun discussions with some political and religious figures, calling on youth and religious movements to nominate people whom they see deserving of the ministerial positions. Al-Akhbar: Minister of Interior Mansour el-Issawy said security forces continue to seize people involved in Tahrir incidents, assuring they are capturing thugs trying to attack the Interior Ministry's headquarters and security directorates and prosecuting them. El-Issawi denied that police officers shot demonstrators and ensured the Forensic Medicine Authority's report will decide this issue. He also said there are more than 180 injured soldiers, adding that a group of thugs, not police officers, went up on roofs and shot demonstrators. Also discussed was the stock market making up 7.5 billion EGP of losses made last Wednesday and Thursday. The stock market closed last week's transactions after losses estimated at 21 billion EGP. Transactions were aided by foreign investment funds and institutions' sales. Al Shorouq: A deadline set by the Arab League for Syria to sign a protocol to send a delegation of observers to the country has passed without the Syrian government's signature. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the deadline was Syrian President “Bashar al-Assad's last chance.” After a meeting in Cairo, Arab foreign ministers decided to ask the UN's assistance in solving the Syrian crisis. Al-Gomhorreya: Businessman and owner of Dream satellite channels Ahmed Bahgat said he demanded his office study the size and capacity of Tahrir Square, revealing that the square's size does not exceed 45,000 meters which accommodates, at most, 75,000 demonstrators. Bahgat said statements claiming the presence of a million demonstrators are not true at all. He also said Essam Sharaf's government did not take any decisions, until Egypt froze, since last January. He added this was reflected on investors and businessmen and badly influenced the economy. He pointed out the media has to defend Egypt and its interests without inciting public opinion, regardless of any personal interests. Egypt decided upon having the elections, due to them being an important step in the transitional phase, drawing up a new constitution, electing the president and finishing the democratic transition in accordance with the set roadmap. Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr received calls from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague about Egypt's current situation. Clinton and Hague expressed U.S. and British concern about the situation and hoped for it to settle down, where they ensured their countries' readiness to provide support and assistance if Egypt were to need it.
