Egypt: New National Party will be headed by Talaat El Sadat

It was announced on 13th April that the former ruling National Democratic Party is being recreated as the New National Party. It will be headed by Talaat El Sadat, who had been critical of the policies of the old party.

The cabinet has approved an electronic voting system for Egyptians living abroad. Egypt has nominated Mustafa El Fiki as its candidate to succeed Amr Mousa as the next secretary general of the Arab League. The choice has provoked derision. El Fiki had been appointed by former president Hosni Mubarak as the head of the now dissolved Shura Council's foreign relations committee. He was also beneficiary of one of the most blatant and outrageous pieces of electoral chicanery. In the 2005 election, he was soundly beaten by the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Gamal Hishmat in the Damanhur constituency. The electoral officers, however, merely switched the result so that El Fiki got Hishmat's votes and vice versa. The switch was exposed by an electoral monitor Noha El Zeini but this did not deter El Fiki from taking his seat.

The military government has said it will remove some provincial governors appointed by Mubarak. Most of these were either former senior police or army officers.

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