Government mouthpiece Al-Ahram writes Tuesday morning, “[Hazem Salah] Abu Ismail followers object and [Khairat] al-Shater takes back his call for an armed struggle.” The Muslim Brotherhood is set to take part in next Friday's protest against the presidential candidacy of Omar Suleiman and to insist on maintaining his exclusion from the presidential race.
The Presidential Elections Commission is set to decide Tuesday on the appeals of candidates excluded from the election last Saturday. The commission is now expected to declare the final list of candidates on 26 April instead of 1 May; the remaining candidates will be granted permission to officially begin their presidential campaigns on the same day.
Head of the Ghad al-Thawra Party Ayman Nour said he has submitted a 10-page appeal, including all the necessary documents, to the commission, Al-Ahram reports.Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, the coordinator of Shater’s presidential campaign, said he was certain the commission would retract its exclusion of Shater.
Freedom and Justice, the newspaper for the political party of the same name, reports that the Presidential Elections Commission is set to finalize its appeal decisions today. It says that Shater’s legal situation is in order and quotes sources from the commission as saying Suleiman’s chances of rejoining the election are almost zero.
The paper says while Suleiman describes himself as a “religious Muslim,” he has opened fire — politically — on the Brotherhood. The report adds that the former vice president said if he were to choose the next president, he would keep Supreme Council of the Armed Forces head Hussein Tantawi in his leading position. In an interview with Reuters on Sunday, Suleiman said he would not have run had it not been for so much pressure from his supporters.
Tuesday will be the first day in court for those implicated in the Port Said football violence on 1 February, according to Al-Ahram. The session will be held at the Police Academy in Cairo and secured by 20,000 police officers and soldiers. Judge Sobhy Abdel Meguid is set to lead the hearing.
Independent Al-Shorouk reports, “Hints of extending the transitional phase unites everyone against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.” Tantawi recently declared that the presidential election could be postponed if the new constitution is not written soon. Islamists totally object to this, while other civil forces have differed over the guidelines for choosing members of the Constituent Assembly.
On its front page, Al-Shorouk quotes General Mohamed Naguib, the interior minister’s assistant for prisons, as saying the Tora Prison hospital is not yet ready to receive former President Hosni Mubarak, due to a need for adequate medical supplies.
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 PartySawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
