Egyptian Opposition Mobilizing

Bikya Masr reports that the Egyptian  al-Wafd Party has called once more for Dr. Mohamed el-Baradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to seek the presidency in the 2011 elections. Baradei has neither confirmed nor denied his intention to run for office, but opposition movements view his potential candidacy with “optimism.”

According to the Daily News Egypt, opposition forces inaugurated the “Egyptian Campaign Against Inheritance of Power” this week at the Al-Ghad party’s headquarters. The campaign is led by 2005 presidential candidate Ayman Nour and includes opposition figures of all stripes, including the Muslim Brotherhood. The Kefaya Movement’s Abdel-Halim Qandeel explained the campaign’s raison d’etre: “There is no difference for us between the succession of [Gamal Mubarak] or the extension of his father’s tenure, both are refused.”

Bikya Masr quotes former MP Mohammed Anwar al-Sadat, the son of President Sadat, who said: “We want everyone to feel that they have justice, that they have a voice.”But The National, a paper from the UAE, quotes Nabil Abdel Fattah of the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, who suggests the ideas represented by the movement “are repetitive and contain the seeds of their own failure.”

Discussing Egyptian Farouk Hosni‘s failed bid for UNESCO chief, Nael Shama  concludes “change in Egypt is no longer an option; it’s a necessity.”

Meanwhile, Egyptian officials have denied Hamas accusations (see our previous post) that Yousef Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, died from torture while under Egyptian custody.