FEBRUARY 05 NEWSLETTER
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A Press release regarding
President Mubark's recent initiative on constitutional amendment

In the Name of God the most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
26/ 2/2005

The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies received with great satisfaction President Mubark's recent initiative in which he requested the Egyptian Assembly to make a constitutional amendment that allows the election of the president through a free and direct popular vote.

Millions of Egyptians and Arabs have likewise welcomed the President's initiative. But, in order for this courageous step to be completed and responsive to people's ambitions to have a true democracy, I propose the following:

1- Most of the terms incorporated in the President's speech should be submitted to the People's Assembly and a national dialogue should begin between all Egyptian political parties and civil society organizations, within a period not exceeding two months.

2- Credibility for running as a presidential candidate should not be restricted to political parties' leaders or parliamentary support, but should be open to all who can demonstrate endorsement by, say, 1000,000 citizens.

3- In order for presidential elections to be highly and truly contested, all means of mass media should be equally accessible to all candidates to submit their programs to the public. In this context, the Neutral National Elections Commission should set the necessary regulations to ensure such equitable treatment.

4- The constitutional amendment of article 76 should clearly limit the presidential term to five years and to no more than two consecutive terms - a demand that had been previously articulated by both the Egyptian opposition parties and civil society organizations.

5-My own final decision as to whether I will run as a candidate in the forthcoming election will be taken after the end of the proposed national dialogue and after the People's Assembly makes its decision on the proposed constitutional amendment.

Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Chairman of ICDS Board of Trustees