Egypt PM Draws On Technocrats, Islamists In New Govt

Egypt’s prime minister has drawn on bureaucrats and Islamists for the country’s first Muslim Brotherhood-led administration, disappointing those who wanted a more inclusive government able to carry forward the revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Prime Minister-designate Hisham Kandil’s appointment of at least two Brotherhood politicians, including one as education minister, marked a major break with the past. But the cabinet’s heavy reliance on civil servants also smacked of the Mubarak era, when government was run by technocrats.

The new cabinet should help President Mohamed Morsi assert more authority in a state where the army still has a powerful say. The choice of defence minister was one of the few portfolios not announced on Wednesday.

“We are a long way from a revolutionary government, a long way from renewing the blood at the top of the Egyptian administration,” said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

Reuters