In this fast-changing presidential race that has the unpredictable turns of a soap opera, the last day before the nomination deadline included a large number of new, disqualified and returning candidates changing the face of the race for the last time.
After announcing that he would not run for president on Thursday, then announcing Friday that popular demand is forcing him to, former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is featured in Sunday’s front pages for requesting his candidacy papers, in preparation for submitting them today.
The second most significant change in the race featured in the papers is the Muslim Brotherhoood’s decision to field its political party’s leader, Mohamed Morsy, as a back-up candidate after controversy aroused regarding the legal status of its main candidate, Khairat al-Shater.
On the outgoing front, the elections commission finally settled the controversy regarding the nationality of Salafi candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail’s mother by announcing that she did indeed hold an American passport, which should disqualify the popular Salafi sheikh from the presidential race, according to the elections law.
Filling this gap, Islamic thinker Abdallah al-Ashaal, who had withdrawn from the race in favor of the Brotherhood’s candidate, decided to return to the race. Jama’a al-Islamiya sources are also reported in some papers as announcing their backing of Islamist cleric Safwat Hegazy as a back-up candidate in case the other Islamists are disqualified.
A court decision also disqualified liberal candidate Ayman Nour, who had been pardoned by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi for a sentence already served.
And finally, in independent Al-Dostour newpaper, former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq denies pulling out of the race in favor of Suleiman.
The new main players in the presidential race are classified either as villains or saviors, depending on the inclination of the paper.
In the Freedom and Justice paper affiliated with the Brotherhood party of the same name, Suleiman is referred to as “the second Mubarak,” and his failure is expected in an article titled “Public isolation awaits the intelligence man.”
In another article, the Brotherhood paper expects Suleiman’s candidacy to boost Khairat’s chances by uniting the people against the Mubarak regime figure.
Columnist Wael Kandil in Al-Shorouk newspaper, however, holds the opposite opinion. In a column titled “Omar Suleiman, the candidate of political Islam,” Kandil believes that the general fear of the domination of the Islamic current is the reason Suleiman was able to announce his bid for presidency.
Independent Al-Dostour newspaper sums up the new face of the presidential race by putting the main players into two categories. On its front page, Al-Dostour puts pictures of Suleiman and Amr Moussa under the title "The civil state scenario," disregarding Suleiman’s military background, and pictures of revolutionaries’ front-runner Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh and Shater under the title "The religious state scenario."
According to Al-Shorouk, the elections commission has informed Abu Ismail of its discovery that his mother held American nationality since 2006, but nothing about a formal decision to disqualify him was reported.
In a press conference held in the mosque where he gives his weekly sermon, Abu Ismail responded to the announcement by accusing the American government of forging a passport for his late mother and lashing out at the Interior Ministry and other candidates.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
