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Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters
Supporters of presidential candidate and Egypt's former vice president Omar Suleiman, cheer while carrying banners bearing images of him, as Suleiman presented his documents to become a presidential candidate to the Higher Presidential Elections Commission (HPEC) headquarters in Cairo April 8, 2012.
CAIRO – The battle lines have been drawn in Egypt’s presidential election between two of the major candidates, Muslim Brotherhood Khairat Al-Shater and former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
In his first shot across the bow, financier Al-Shater announced that election fraud would be grounds for a second revolution, a thinly veiled suggestion that a Suleiman victory would imply fraud and that the Muslim Brotherhood would wield their vast power to fill Tahrir Square and topple him.
But it’s not only the Muslim Brotherhood that is opposed to the former confidant of toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak. Many secular parties and candidates also are angry about Suleiman’s candidacy.
Suleiman, briefly a vice president during Mubarak’s last days in office, was the director of the intelligence apparatus that aided in suppressing the opposition from 1993 until the start of the revolution in January 2011. He is widely believed to have the backing of the military, which still wields considerable power.
"Suleiman's Victory is Zero Hour for Civil War," warned a dramatic headline recently on the independent Wafd newspaper.
Many feel the revolution will have failed should the former spymaster triumph. "The sacrifices of the past year and a half will have been in vain," lamented another independent newspaper.
Others have criticized what they consider his past failures. "You … aided Israel, are you coming back to lose it again!?" chided another Wafd headline, referring to his perceived support of the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries.
Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters
People walk past a poster of presidential candidate and Egypt's former Vice President Omar Suleiman with the Star of David on his face, in Cairo on Thursday. The poster, which was created by the Egyptian Islamic Labour Party, reads,
On Thursday, the Muslim Brotherhood took their battle with Suleiman to the halls of parliament and won – sort of. Egypt’s parliament passed a bill that bars senior figures from Mubarak’s regime from competing in elections for the next 10 years, a move specifically intended to stop Suleiman from running in the next election.
However, the law will only come into effect if the military council that took over from Mubarak last year ratifies it, which is unlikely to happen before the election commission issues its final list of presidential candidates later this month.
In light of this, the Muslim Brotherhood will take their case to the street Friday with more than 40 other revolutionary movements, calling for a million people to fill Cairo’s Tahrir Square under the slogan "Protecting the Revolution."
Security candidate
None of this would matter, of course, if the secretive ex-spy chief did not have demonstrable support. However, he had no difficulty in raising more than three times the 30,000 signatures needed in order to qualify as a candidate.
He also has buzz. In the past week, you could hear little else discussed in shops, restaurants and taxis. With rare exception, people I have asked on the subway, in taxis and on the street support him.
Why?
"When I drive my taxi these days, anybody can hassle me,” said one disgruntled cabbie. “I need security and he is the only one who can provide it."
Law and order is the first concern on many minds. The lack of police presence and escape of hardened criminals since the revolution has led to a crime spree in what was once an oasis of safety. Now, previously unknown threats such as kidnapping, carjacking and house invasions have become commonplace. Many feel that Suleiman, relic of the old regime though he is, can restore security and with it tourism and investment.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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It looks like this guy, Suleiman has experience and understands law and order. Of course the muslims will do all they can to rig the election against him because thier own agenda is only to bring the hate filled, cruel muslim culture to everyone in Egypt. Mubarak was a long ways from perfect but he kept the muslim scum at bay and didn't allow the brutal law of sharia in Egypt.
Jack
You do not know jacksh*t... You think egyptians forgot mubarak's oppresion just to keep isrealis at ease?
mobarek was a modern slave...
Abdallah - regardless of why Mubarak did what he did...
It's a very thin line that you walk while ruling over a nation. You have a lot of things to deal with within the country, and then you have the external nations you also need to deal with.
Mubarak wasnt insane. Regardless of public Egyptian opinion of Israel, if Mubarak supported attacking Israel or violence towards Israel, not only would it anger Israel, but it would also anger Israel's allies... which include the US and other nations. If Mubarak instigated ANYTHING against Israel, things in Egypt would have been much worse than they are.
Granted...there are Egyptians that want to cancel the peace treaty, and others who want to renegotiate the peace treaty for more favorable terms towards Egypt, but that is a whole different issue entirely.
I personally feel that Israel is used as a means of deflection via certain Arab countries to draw attention from pressing issues on the homefront, because it's easy to claim that you are being oppressed by the "Zionist Entity Boogeyman." It's not as easy to not oppress your people, and lead real change.
Any current and future leader of Egypt is going to have some hard choices to make. Some are much smarter than others.
Keeping the peace (even if it is only a cold peace) is a much better option, to prevent loss of life, damage to property, and to keep American money (per peace treaty with Israel) flowing, which Egypt needs as it attempts to re-boot the economy.
mubarak was in peace with any other country and it was the right thing , now muslim brother hood the evil in egypt with the most evil salfeen missed up egypt totally, i hope soulman wins the election and stop these evils
I have to agree with you, Jack. And I have been predicting the United States of America would one day regret for paving the way for the Muslim Brotherhood to rise in Egypt. That day is here.
I have always maintained that the MB would lie or pretend to be very, very moderate or peaceful in order to gain your trust, or in case of the Egyptian people, votes.
During the referendum, and then during the parliamentary election, they got most of the votes because the Egyptians were tired of the excesses of the Tahrir square demonstartions, though they kept silent, for fear of being labelled as sympathisers of former president (Mubarak).
The Muslim Brotherhood was quick to sense the increasing distaste of the public for the endless demonstrations usually accompanied with violence, and decided to distance themselves from the rowdy mobs. They even called for the protests at Tahrir square to stop.They went out of their way to present themselves as trust-worthy, moderate, responsible and a breath of fresh air compared to the mobs that flooded Cairo square.
They ticked all the right boxes.
They didn't shout at the top of their voices how they were going to rule Egypt , especially as regards women's freedom, so not to alarm Egyptians.
They Egyptian voters believed them and gave them the most votes.
But now, now that they are in the commanding position in Parliament and the committee to draft a new constitution, they feel that they don't need to pretend to be nice any more. Hence the decision to contest in the presidential election, which they originally promised they would not.
This faux pas by the MB, if it won't throw a spanner in their schemes of things, will spell the doom for Egyptians.
Sharia will be implimented; women will lose their freedom; the coptic Christians will be prosecuted, and Israel will have many sleepless nights.
How come that Mubarak VP, who was the key person for Torturing people in Egypt for CIA and other organizations, wants to be elected after the revolutions againest them and thier regeme,
he is the right person for this job right now, muslimbrotherhood afraid of him, he is the only one will stop these evils, so they are trying to get rid of him, i wish you win suoliman and kick the evils out of egypt(salfeen and muslim brotherhood and qatar and saudi arabi).
The United States should give no more money to Egypt until it knows what Egypt is in power and if it is appropriate to give aid. The United States has to get out of its position of indiscriminately throwing money to countries. This builds the national debt and secures no coalition.
Spy shmy - Egypt can kiss Tourism goodbye! If you thought Palestine was a tough neighborhood to walk through, Egypt will be Armageddon & the Middle East will implode. The desert & a few camels will be all that's left.
The poor people of Egypt. I sympathize with their plight. The deposed regime was a vigorous ally of the US and the West - keeping the Suez unthreatened. But, as always, excesses come to light and a regime is toppled - tooo bad this could not happen in the despotic state of N.Korea - now the Muslims Brotherhood which is nothing more than a gang of islamic extremists shouting at the top of their lungs for the return of Islamic law, with all of its insulting and demonic behaviors. Islamic law is like Biblical Law and both should be banned, burned and thrown into a stone age firepit - neither one respect humanity. How can one religion respect the universe when it claims to be the number one in God's eyes? How dare anyone seek God's approval for inhuman acts of terror, violence, genocide and the pollution of young minds. Unfortunately, the way is clear in Egypt: either a strong military man comes to power which has been successful in the past, or the Muslims come into power and strip all vestiges of human rightrs from the soil of Egypt.
Zealots are the first ones to burn in my opinion.
Real updated news- from Egypt. Suleiman cannot run based on the law barring him from running as enacted in the Egyptian Parliament whose majority are the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the ultrafundamentalist Salafist Noir Party. What should be reported is the fact that the Salafist Noir Party's Hazem Salah Abu Ismail after taking his case first to the Court issuing a finding that his mother Nawal Abdel Aziz Noir was not a US citizen and the Interior Ministry implementing the Court's ruling enables Noir's Ismail to run for the Presidency of Egypt. Where is US/State/HRC in this case- why no questions? US had previously given Egyptian authorities the following info; Nawal Abdel Aziz Noir became a US Citizen on October 25,2006 and visited Egypt on her US Passport. She also had a Voter Registration Card in order to vote in US elections. Egyptian Law (old)bars people with one parent of being a different nationality from running for office. There will be no human rights no women rights,no infidel rights in Egypt thanks to Obama administration. Take Kuwait- there is now a law banning blasphemy of Allah/Islam punishable with death. Today is the year 2012- not 712.
I hope America is not involved in this. If CIA or any other US entity is putting thid dude up..in the long run it will backfire big.
I have a question - What was Bush Senior's Job before he wormed his way to the top spot in the USA?
Update extra- since news are coming in snail mail. Farouk Sultan- head of presidential election commission told Reuters the following; Egypt disqualifies top Islamists,Mubarak V.P. from vote. The body overseeing Egypt's presidential election disqualified 10 candidates from the race Saturday (2012-04-14) includinng Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater,former spy chief Omar Suleiman and ultraorthodox Salafi Sheikh Hazen Salah Abu Ismail. The disqualified have 48 hrs to appeal against the decision.