Egyptian President-elect to Appoint Woman, Christian Vice-Presidents

Mohamed Morsi and Hussein Tantawi

Egyptian president-elect Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday announced that he would nominate six vice-presidents, including a woman and a Christian, in a bid to keep his word to be a president to all Egyptian. The move is also perceived as a step toward ending the reign of the military, which is expected to hand over power by the end of this week.

The Muslim Brotherhood reached some agreements with the army regarding to the powers the newly elected Islamist president of Egypt will have, and what is to become of the dissolved parliament.  Mohamed Morsi resigned his position in the Freedom and Justice party in order to be a president for all Egyptians, and will count on a panel of six vice presidents, among which he wants a woman, a Christian, secularists or other non-Brotherhood representatives in the society.

An aide to the president said that Morsi is considering appointing as prime minister Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel Prize winner. Another possible nomination for the job could be Hazem Beblawi, former minister of finance.

Mohamed ElBaradei was seen by Egyptians as the possible replacement for Hosni Mubarak even before the revolution in 2011. He was credited to win elections against either Mubarak himself or his son Gamal, who, at the time, was seen as heir apparent.

ElBaradei promised to run in elections only if they were correct and represented the real will of the Egyptian nation, and urged his country fellows to abandon the paradigm in which they were living their lives and become more involved in social and political matters.

His family was at the heart of a smear campaign even before the revolution, a move which was interpreted by many as a fact that the regime was afraid that he may actually reach to the people of Egypt.

After the revolution he kept a low-key appearance in the public life, and in January 2012 announced he would not run for president, accusing the military of not being able to hold free and democratic elections.

The aide to the president who disclosed the possible prime ministerial nominations added that the cabinet will be made of technocrats, and that the president is committed to important issues as resolving the fuel shortage, the collection of garbage in the cities, improve traffic flow, improve economy and restore security in the country.

National Post daily reporting on the meeting between the president-elect and the head of the military council in power, field marshal Hussein Tantawi, says that in the official picture of the two most powerful men in Egypt Morsi seemed a visiting president, that stressing out where the power in this country lies.

Sources close to the presidency also spoke of the mode in which the ministries will be divided in the cabinet. Thus, after a consultation with the military, the finance and the foreign affairs may go to the Muslim Brotherhood provided that they do not take defense, interior and justice ministries.

The negotiations with the military come at a time when Egypt’s Administrative Court has ruled that the military has no right to arrest civilians, a decision which is seen by many as a step toward reclaiming the power in the country by the civilian authority, though many agree that there is still much to be done for the military to hand over total control over power.

Mohamed Morsi will be sworn in as president of Egypt on Saturday making out of the location where he will pledge his allegiance the first occasion to tackle the military grip of power, as the SCAF announced that the ceremony will be held in front of the constitutional court, while the president wanted to be inaugurated in front of the parliament, which is now dissolved by military decree.

Voice of America cites the opinion of an Egyptian analyst who speculates that the stakes of the location the inauguration will be held in are very high because if the president backs down on his decision to be inaugurated before the parliament it will be indicative of the way he will behave toward the military.

The military dissolved the parliament in the run-up to the presidential runoff, and issued a constitutional decree by which the presidential powers were restrained, giving decision to the military in many fields, including the budget decisions and the decision related to the constitutional assembly, which the military wants to form anew after the previous one was dissolved by the justice because it was considered non-representative for the minorities in the country.

On Tuesday, Israeli officials have admitted that it was possible that the new regime may uphold the peace treaties signed between the two states. Morsi had promised during the campaign to protect the treaties with the neighboring country.11