In an extraordinary session held Thursday (April 12th) Egypt's People's Assembly approved a draft law amending the country's law on exercising political rights, AFP reported.
The draft law will bar former President Hosni Mubarak and those who served in the upper echelons of his regime from running for political office for 10 years.
The amendment, which must be ratified by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, could block a number of former senior officials from running in May's presidential election.
Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman, Egypt's former intelligence chief and its former vice president, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak, are among the officials who would be barred under the new law.
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هناء الصفار
2012-4-17
The media should play a role in presenting the presidency candidates to the people. Yet, the role of the media should be just informational rather than publicity. In fact, the media must be neutral and free. It should visit the Egyptian streets, hold free meetings and shed light on the curriculum vitae of the candidate truthfully and honestly in order to atone for its bad deeds in previous years and to grant the opportunity for those who do not have the money to reach public opinion.
حميد مهاوش
2012-4-17
The presidential elections which will be held in Egypt must be characterized by integrity, honor, honesty and lack of fraud or manipulation of the voters. The latter will select the right and competent candidate who will be suitable for everyone. Thus, all the parties have to accept things fairly away from selfishness, jealousy, hatred or hostility because they will not win the elections. In fact, everyone has noticed that the candidates for the presidency are ordinary people, whether doctors, teachers, professors, artists or even employees, cleaners and many others. In fact, some people have started to laugh at some of the candidates, given that some of them are ignorant or simple employees or unemployed. One of the artists who run for the presidency of Egypt is the popular singer Saad al-Sughaiyar and many other like him. Thus, it is necessary that there be credibility, experience and knowledge in the way of dealing with the events so that the presidency will not be a mere nomination. In fact, the candidate should enjoy much responsibility and the presidential elections in Egypt must be fair and honest and reflect the extent of their loyalty to Egypt and Egyptians.
هناء الصفار
2012-4-17
There is an intellectual and political struggle to gain access to power. Such a situation will not lead the country to stability and progress. This is the most dangerous thing. In addition, there is a conflict between secular and Islamic groups. It is difficult to turn Egypt into a purely religious State because the other currents will not remain still. In fact, they will try hard to reduce the influence of Islamists on the political scene. However, the Egyptian people, in general, are religious. If Islamist parties were allowed to move more freely, the demand for Islamic methodology will increase. I think that this will give a greater opportunity for the Islamists to seize control of things in the coming period. However, the conflict between the Military and the Muslim Brotherhood makes it difficult to predict. Indeed, the Military Council is now more powerful than ever, namely in the first post-revolution period.
حسن
2012-4-17
The emergence of the results of the parliamentary elections in Egypt where the Islamists won, proves the true identity of Egypt. This country has restored its Islamic identity, which will have significant regional and international implications. This result will resolve many outstanding Arab and Islamic issues which lasted for many years, including the Palestinian cause. The Islamic Egypt will be a stronger deterrent to the occupying Zionist. The new Egypt will force the Zionists to recognize Arab rights. On the other hand, the Islamic Egypt will represent an invincible dam that will stop the expansion of Safavid Shiism led by Iran in an aggressive way throughout the Sunni Arab world.
أحسان عبد الصبور
2012-4-14
The current Egyptian situation calls for some concern because of the political disputes between the various secularism, Islamic political currents and also because of the policies of the junta that a lot of political currents in Egypt and large segments of the Egyptian people see them become ambiguous policies that may have seemed biased in their decisions to a party at the expense of the other party. Therefore, such conditions will lead to a continuous political tension in Egypt, which some are trying to reduce the severity and not show it to the public.
بسعاد
2012-4-14
Given the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood won most of the important and sensitive positions in Egypt that would form the character of the State in the coming period, those who are concerned with arts inside and outside the artistic circles started introducing many visions and opinions that are closely related to the artistic environment in Egypt. After the eruption of the revolution and the radical change in the political map in Egypt, new artistic trends appeared and they showed great interest in the political awareness of the Egyptian people and raised issues that were not possible before. However, after the parliamentary elections, it became clear that the Islamic movement in Egypt dominates the situation, the fears about the fate of the artistic movement in one of the most active countries in this field regionally. It is clear that the artistic movement was not affected by any changes in Egypt, but this does not mean that all works are purposeless because there are many works that were affected by the revolution and whose main subject was the Egyptian revolution. Anyway, the fate of the arts in Egypt is unknown, particularly with the spread of the cadres of the Muslim Brotherhood in the political positions in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is against the arts and creativity, and the artistic arena has recently witnessed a heated debate about the stance of the Muslim Brotherhood toward the arts. Some artists and critics see that the Muslim Brotherhood is a radical movement that rejects the arts and creativity, and does not welcome the cinema or the theater, in addition to their other fears. They believe that the Muslim Brotherhood will suppress the freedom of expression and creativity, and some of them will reject introducing the arts that include some adult scenes. Despite the disagreement regarding the definition of the adult scenes, the main problem remains in the way of handling the dramatic event. The greatest fear is that the objection to the artistic works would be on religious, not artistic, bases. This is unacceptable because the Censorship Authority is the only entity that is responsible for protecting the society and determining the age groups and suitable works. However, we witness the appearance of some artists and singers on the artistic arena and this is evidence that the arts were not affected by the recent developments in Egypt. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that only a few artists intend to stop acting or singing if the Muslim Brotherhood dominates Egypt completely.