Elbaradei says not to run for Egyptian presidency

CAIRO — The ex-head of the UN nuclear watchdog and Nobel laureate Mohamed Elbaradei said yesterday he would not run for the Egyptian presidency because there is still no real democracy in the country.

“My conscience does not allow me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless there is real democracy,” Elbaradei said in a statement.

Elbaradei said there was no room for him in Egyptian politics because old symbols of the government were still running the country and charged that preparations to draw a new constitution were “botched.”

“I have examined the best ways of serving the goals of the revolution and I found that there is no official post for me, not even the presidency,” ElBaradei said.

“Preparations are being made to elect a president before the establishment of a constitution that would organise relations between the (judicial, executive, legislative) powers and protect liberties,” he said.

He praised the revolutionary youths who led massive popular uprisings that ousted president Hosni Mubarak last year but said “the former gov- ernment did not fall.”

“No decision was taken to purify state institutions, particularly state media and the judiciary, of symbols of the old government,” said Elbaradei.

Elbaradei compared the revolution to a boat and charged that “the captains of the vessel ... are still treading old waters, as if the revolution did not take place.”

He charged that corruption was still rife in post-mubarak Egypt, which is being ruled by a military council since the veteran president was ousted from power in February following an 18-day popular uprising.

“We all feel that the former government did not fall,” he said in the statement.

Elbaradei denounced the “repressive” policies of Egypt’s new rulers, who he said were putting “revolutionaries on trial in military court instead of protecting them and punishing those who killed their friends.”

His comments reflect growing disenchantment with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).

The SCAF has repeatedly pledged to cede full powers to civilian rule when a president is elected by the end of June but there is widespread belief that the military wants to maintain a political role in the country’s future.

The military has also come under fire over its human rights record in recent months and faced accusations that it has resorted to Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.

Egypt witnessed deadly clashes between democracy protesters and government forces in November — before parliamentary polls began — and again in December.

The SCAF has also kept in place several old government figures such as prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud and appointed a former Mubarak-era prime minister, Kamal al Ganzuri, as the country’s transitional premier.

The military council is headed by Field Marshal Hus- sein Tantawi, a veteran defence minister who served under the ousted president.

Mubarak is now on trial and the prosecution has called for him to be hanged for the killing of hundreds of demonstrators in the January-february 2011 revolt.

The liberal-minded Elbaradei was initially hailed as a hero upon his return to Egypt in February 2010 at the end of his tenure at the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Many Egyptians saw in him an ideal candidate to steer the most populous Arab country into democracy.

Rather than join a political party, the 69-year-old Elbaradei set up a movement of his own to act as an umbrella for a range of opposition groups — the National Association for Change.

But in 2010 he boycotted elections, saying that there was no hope of them being free and fair, and lost many fans along the way.

His coalition took a beating in the latest marathon elections that wrapped up last week while traditionalists won a crushing victory and are estimated to have clinched 70 per cent of seats in the next parliament. — AFP