Six presidential hopefuls issued a statement on Thursday evening demanding an end to the state of emergency on 30 September and asking the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) not to prolong the transitional period without giving a suitable justification.
The potential candidates stressed that the presidential election should be held before the end of 2012 to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to a civilian government.
The statement was signed by Hazem Abu Ismail, Hamdeen Sabbahi, Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, Amr Moussa, Mohamed Selim al-Awa, and Hesham el-Bastawisi. Absent from signing was Mohamed ElBaradei, who disagrees with the other hopefuls on priorities during the transitional period and continues to call for drafting a new constitution before elections are held.
The statement reads, in full:
After the [presidential] hopefuls met several times to discuss the critical situation the country is going through, they have agreed to announce the following:
1. The current state of emergency must be terminated as of 30 September 2011, according to Article 59 of the Constitutional Declaration, and any decision or court ruling issued after 30 September 2011 based on the Emergency Law will be unconstitutional and illegal.
2. [The presidential hopefuls] object to prolonging the transitional period without justification, and [believe] the transition timeline must be shortened in order to hold the parliamentary elections and achieve the goals of the nation, which are to transfer power peacefully to an elected civilian administration before March 2012.
3. [The presidential hopefuls] adhere to the necessity of issuing the Treachery Law in order to make the forces of corruption subject to judicial accountability as soon as possible and be unable to infiltrate the parliament.
4. It is necessary to make amendments to the Judicial Authority Law to ensure free and fair elections and the independence of the judiciary from executive authority, to be prepared by a committee formed by the head of the Supreme Judicial Council.
5. [The presidential hopefuls] are proud of the general performance of political forces across the country.
The presidential candidates will meet next Monday, 3 October 2011, to discuss the SCAF's response.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
