Cairo - Akram Ali
Ayman Nour Egyptian Presidency candidate Ayman Nour said that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s government has failed to achieve any of the demands and hopes of Egyptian people since
it took over in January, which has resulted in his loss of trust in Sharaf’s ability to repair the security situation before the 25th elections. Ayman Nour considers that he will not be able to achieve the parliamentary demands of the upcoming September revolution, adding that the only mentionable demand of the Egyptian revolution that has been achieved was the overthrowing of ex-President Hosni Mubarak. With regards to the latest statement released by the Military Council concerning their slowness in achieving the demands of the revolution, he said: “I am worried that the revolution will turn into a military coup, just like what happened on the 23rd July, but I believe in the Military council, and I hope that the demands of the revolution are met as quickly as possible.” On his nomination for the 2011 Presidency he said: “The decision behind nominating me now has come as a result of the need to fight the remains of the past regime, and to set Egypt on the right track in order to put Egypt in a much higher position that it was in before.”
Speculation surrounding the Egyptian leadership’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood confirms that the leadership has not publically announced their support for the Brotherhood, so it believes that they do not have the support of the presidency, since their ideas are not compatible. Salafi’s Nour said that he intends to get closer to them on some matters, however the Salafis have officially nominated Sheikh Hazem Salah Abou Ismail, and therefore there is no support from their side.Nour has said that he very much welcomes the idea of a 28-party coalition, and anyone who would like to be a part of it, stating: “This coalition will be the only guaranteed way to facilitate the Egyptian revolution in its approach, and to keep the spirit of it alive. In addition it will prevent any party from taking over the majority of the seats in Parliament in the upcoming elections.”
Asked on his thoughts regarding the Court’s decision in electing Moussa Moustafa Moussa as President of the Ghad Party, he said: “Electing him means nothing because the party has only got stronger, and has over 300 thousand members. Therefore we will not allow any damage to our party.” Nour pointed out that there are parties who were in constant communication with the old regime, despite claiming to be opposed to it. Whereas the Ghad party and some of the other parties have always remained opposed to the old regime and the idea of inheritance, claiming that that is what pushed them forwards after the 25th January Revolution.
With regards to the issue of whether to sort out the Constitution or to hold the elections first, Nour said that he has always had the same stance on this issue, which is to postpone the legislative elections and to hold the Presidential elections first, in order to ensure stability in Egypt. However, he claimed that this was not possible because most people want to hold the legislative elections first.
Asked on his opinion about the referendum held on the Military Council’s Facebook page, Nour said that he does not consider the results valid, as they only represent 6% of Egyptians considering that millions of Egyptians don’t even know what Facebook is.
Nour confirmed that that Ghad party is in favour of the document released by Al-Azhar, which they considered the right way to revive the role of Al-Azhar, who a lot of people forgot about under the old regime. He also said that this document will help to set Egyptian society on the right track with the support of Egyptian parties and different political powers.
Nour confirmed that his 2,200-page political agenda includes all the solutions to Egypt’s problems, and that it has been shortened to 45 pages, of which 1 million copies have been printed. His agenda is split into two sections; the first section sets out 48 months to stop the deterioration of the country, and the second sets out 24 months to begin realizing reforms. He said that what is special about his agenda is that it is not elitist or populist backlash, but is accurate, practical, and very specific in the cases it represents, and the in-depth inclusive solutions it contains for different problems facing Egyptians at the present time.