US State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley on Wednesday said Washington wanted to see "free and fair" parliamentary elections in Egypt. Elections for seats in Egypt's national assembly are scheduled for November.
Commenting on calls by would-be independent presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei to boycott elections, as well as perceived attempts by the ruling National Democratic Party to groom Gamal Mubarak–son of President Hosni Mubarak–for the presidency, Crowley stressed that the US administration did not support any particular presidential candidate. "This is for the Egyptian people to decide," he said.
Meanwhile, David Ottaway, chief scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington-based think-tank, said President Mubarak’s plan to groom his son for the presidency "may well fail," especially given that the president himself had not yet announced whether he would run for another term. He went on to say that the elder Mubarak was particularly concerned about competition from ElBaradei.
“Mubarak brought his son along to Washington to introduce him to US officials in a plan to groom him for his succession,” Ottaway added.
He also said that US President Barack Obama had begun to believe that pushing for democratic reform in Egypt and Saudi Arabia would have "adverse repercussions" on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
