Whether in Parliament or in the presidential race, Monday’s papers highlight the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. The largest bloc in Parliament with the widest support base, Brotherhood decisions of any kind are big news.
After a parliamentary session in which MPs launched a fierce attack on ministers of international cooperation, justice, insurance and social affairs, and aviation, and criticized the agriculture minister and Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri for failing to show up, the papers give indications of an imminent no-confidence vote against the government.
Independent Al-Shorouk newspaper quotes MPs from both the Salafi-oriented Nour Party and the Freedom and Justice Party, saying they will stop one step short of a no-confidence vote against the government.
“The Brotherhood and Salafis refuse to give confidence to Ganzouri’s government and don’t support withdrawing it,” a headline from the newspaper says.
The awkward headline reflects the shakiness of the position taken by the majority bloc in Parliament, whose goal seems to be somehow getting the government to resign without actually employing political force.
State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, however, leads with the headline: “The revolution’s Parliament starts no-confidence vote procedures against Ganzouri’s cabinet.”
The paper says Parliament has decided on the matter following the lift of a travel ban on the foreign suspects accused in the recent NGOs funding case, in which 43 foreign and Egyptian NGO workers face charges of illegal funding and operating without a license. Allowing the suspects to travel before the case’s conclusion was seen as a transgression on the sovereignty of the Egyptian judiciary.
Parliament also recommended, according to Al-Ahram, the prosecution of all those responsible for allowing the foreign defendants to travel, the return of all Egyptian prisoners in American prisons and canceling American aid to Egypt to ensure its autonomy.
The Freedom and Justice newspaper, reflecting the views of the decisive bloc in Parliament, confirmed that Parliament is preparing for a vote of no confidence against the government. Its headline read: “For the second time, the ministers wash their hands of the foreigners traveling and Ganzouri evades.”
On the same page, however, Freedom and Justice Party President Mohamed Morsy is quoted telling the Bulgarian ambassador in Egypt that the party decided to go further than a no-confidence vote by not acknowledging the government and refusing to deal with it.
As for the presidential race, speculations continue regarding the Brotherhood’s pick, which as of yet is unannounced and remains uncertain.
Al-Dostour newspaper quotes Brotherhood spokesperson Mahmoud Ghozlan as saying the group will dismiss any member that supports former Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, who was dismissed from the group for not abiding by its decision to not field a presidential candidate.
Following rumors of a deal between the Brotherhood and the ruling military council, Ghozlan also says the group has not approached any presidential candidate to support him and called the recent rumors “inaccurate journalistic efforts.”
Within FJP, the Brotherhood said group members will not give their signatures to support the candidacy of any of the candidates until the group decides on the one to support.
Al-Ahram announced that Abouel Fotouh, Mortada Mansour and Bothaina Kamel, along with 70 other candidates, withdrew their candidacy papers yesterday. The paper quotes candidates objecting to the ban on campaigning until 20 days before the elections.
Al-Wafd Party newspaper chooses to focus on the exterior, poking fun at candidates who withdrew their candidacy papers in slippers or farmers’ robes.
In other news, the acquittal of the doctor accused of performing virginity tests on women in military prison last year didn’t make it to most front pages. Al-Dostour, one of the few papers that gave attention to the news, says the verdict was based on the two victims who testified in the case. It reports that the two victims gave a different name for the female prison employee present during the incident.
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
