Mubarak stresses constitutional amendments, paving way for multi-candidate polls
Egypt, Politics, 2/26/2005

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said he asked the parliament to amend the constitution to allow multiple candidates to run for the presidential elections.

Addressing a popular rally in the Menoufiya governorate on Saturday, President Mubarak said that the constitutional amendment is aimed at bringing the law in line with this stage of our nation's history.

The amendment is to be put to a vote before September's presidential referendum.

Addressing the rally held at the University of Menoufiya Conference Centre, the president spoke about planned reforms to bring modernization, welfare and progress to the country.

He greeted all the people of Egypt for their hard and sincere work to push forward the country's development process and to face the challenges of the future in a rapidly changing world.

He promised to do utmost efforts to serve the country and preserve its dignity, social security and independence, vowing commitment to freedoms, equality, pluralism and democracy.

Mubarak also said plans for comprehensive economic, social and political reforms will continue, welcoming all brackets of the society to share in the country's development march.

The president also spoke to the rally about his ambitions to bring up the standard of living of Egyptian citizens, reconstruct the country's infrastructure, enhance the role of the private sector, pay Egypt's foreign debts, create vibrant and strong agricultural and industrial sectors and build a stable, secure and balanced economy.

Mubarak said this socio-economic development could not have been achieved except in a free political democratic atmosphere that furnishes an opportunity for all political currents to participate in offering solutions to the problems. We have faced and the forging of visions for future modernization.

It was necessary for the march of reform to go ahead regardless of the attempts of the forces of terrorism to undermine the nation's security and shake its stability, which prompted us to stand against them with the power of the law and the collective notion that terrorism is a menace to all of us, he said.

The president said the Egyptian citizens have become secure in a society that stands on citizenship rights and where spaces of freedom are growing wider and the social security umbrella expanding.

Out of keenness on going on with the path of reforms and expanding freedoms, I have asked today morning to the People's Assembly and Shura Council to amend article 76 of the Egyptian constitution pertaining to the way a president of the republic is selected, said Mubarak, adding the two houses would start debating the request and offer proper amendments.

He said the request involved key principles: the election of a president of the republic be through direct public presidential elections, allowing political parties to run for the presidency and offering guarantees for more than one candidate to run so that the people, with their own free will, would choose among them.

This historic decisive moment is the fruit of political stability we are experiencing and an assertion of the democratic republican system that aims to respect the people's sovereignty and their will, he said.

Previous Stories:
  Ayman Nour observes hunger strike   (2/25/2005)
  Demonstrations in Cairo against extension for President Mubarak   (2/22/2005)
  Egyptian al-Ghad party rejects foreign intervention   (2/22/2005)
  A third candidate for the Egyptian presidency against Mubarak   (2/19/2005)
  Demonstrations calling for reforms in Cairo   (2/5/2005)

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