Sunday, February 19, 2012

Arab League chief denies run for Egyptian presidency


Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi has rebuffed speculations that he would run for the Egyptian presidency in comments made on Saturday.

Arabi denied claims he had negotiated with official bodies and political parties on his running for the Egyptian upcoming presidential elections, according to official MENA news agency.

Rumors of his candidacy had flooded Egyptian mainstream media in recent days when a prominent newspaper quoted the Advisory Council head, Mansour Hassan, as saying “Arabi would get my vote if he ever ran for presidency.”
Also fueling speculation were claims by Arab media sources that both Egypt’s ruling military council and the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most influential Islamist force, had agreed to jointly nominate Arabi as their candidate.

The allegations had gone further to suggest that the Islamists were supported by a number of Gulf Arab states to nominate Arabi in exchange of financial help from these countries.

But the Arab League chief rejected the idea of foreign intervention, adding that only the Egyptians who should determine their future through fair and integral elections, according to MENA.

The presidential elections are planned to be held before the end of June, but the exact date will be announced on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Arabi said that presidential elections should come after the completion of a new constitution, which sets to define the functions of a new government, including the limits on the future president’s role

Egypt is set to start rewriting its constitution in March, a year after the fall of president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

No comments:

Post a Comment