Rebel Campaign Asks Egyptians To Nominate Cabinet Via Facebook

The anti-Morsi Rebel (Tamarod) campaign has asked Egyptians through its official Facebook page to send their nominations for ministers in the upcoming cabinet.

Liberal economist Hazem El-Beblawi was appointed to the role of prime minister last week, and is currently forming his government, although he has said that the ministers of defence, interior and foreign affairs will not be changed.

The request for nominations attracted over 800 answers. Among the nominations that the people suggested are renowned heart surgeon Sir Magdy Yacoub as minister of health, actor Mohamed Sobhy as minister of culture, leftist lawyer Khalid Ali as minister of labour, and television host Yosri Fouda as minister of information.

The grassroots Rebel campaign was a key organiser of mass anti-government protests in Egypt on 30 June that led to the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi by the military.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, one of the co-founders of the Rebel campaign, has stated that the roadmap stipulating that the constitution be amended before parliamentary and presidential elections was a gain the campaign achieved over the objections of the Salafist Nour Party.

A constitutional declaration made by interim president Adli Mansour on Monday included a roadmap for transition, which sets out a process of amending the constitution, followed by parliamentary then presidential elections.

Abdel-Aziz also revealed that the Rebel campaign has been discussing the cabinet nominations with the presidency, new prime minister El-Beblawi, and vice president Mohamed ElBaradei, adding that the campaign is hoping that the upcoming cabinet will represent the 25 January revolution and its “greatest” wave, 30 June, through its ministers and policies.

Abdel-Aziz also cited the nomination of ElBaradei to a key position as an achievement of the campaign.

“You will discover that the administrative apparatus of the state was refusing to have Dr. ElBaradei in the presidency, but we insisted on him. We did not give up the nomination of Dr. ElBaradei as prime minister, but he preferred to nominate Dr. Ziad Bahaa El-Din, as he [ElBaradei] will be the vice president for foreign affairs,” Abdel-Aziz wrote on his official Facebook page.

“Despite our objections to some of the constitutional declaration’s articles, we believe the speed of issuing the constitutional declaration is a guarantee for the success of the revolution,” Abdel-Aziz continued.

Source:Aswat Masriya