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Rantings of a Sandmonkey

Be forewarned: The writer of this blog is an extremely cynical, snarky, pro-US, secular, libertarian, disgruntled sandmonkey. If this is your cup of tea, please enjoy your stay here. If not, please sod off

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Ayman Nour will not boycott the election

Remember when the majority of the egyptian opposition announced that they are boycotting the election in order to not legitimize it, and i wonderd if that included Ayman Nour or not? Well, my question got answerd in this Al-Jazeerah interview: He will still run for President no matter what and he wants Mubarak to apologize to the Egyptian People for failing them by his leadership! Hehehe Favorite excerpts: You told the media that you are considering withdrawing from the race and boycotting the elections. Do you truly intend to withdraw? I said I would withdraw from the national dialogue as a form of protest against the current political status. But we are not going to give them the privilege of withdrawing from the presidential elections. I will run for the presidency till the last drop of my blood. In that case, how do you plan on being provided access to the media? Is your voice being heard by the Egyptian layman? No, we don't really have access to the domestic nor the international media. My voice is not heard, but the war launched against us by the government is a kind of propaganda. It also attracts the media to talk and write about this war and us. Our voice is heard through their stupidity. For example, my arrest and detainment for 45 days increased the number of people who believed in me and sympathised with our party. All I have are the people who support me. President Mubarak appeared in a seven-hour programme; I don't need seven days or seven hours, and I don't need 24 years of monopolising the media. All I need, and all I want, are 60 minutes - a live debate with the president before the Egyptian people, in which he has to justify all that has happened in Egypt throughout the last 24 years, and I will prove how we are going to radically change a lot in six years. Six years to repaint Egypt's face with a bright colour. They want me to thank the president for amending article 76 - I am ready to do that; but before I do, he has to apologise for forging all referendums and polls throughout the last 24 years. Mubarak has to apologise for the decline of the Egyptian economy, for the recession we are living in, for the unemployment we have, for the exaggerated taxes, for arresting people without a case, and for the emergency laws. Like Mubarak would ever debate him! Oh well! It's a Two man race now for better or worse, that is unless Nour gets arrested and sentenced before the elections, which is quite possible. But if they arrest him, how will they keep up the facade that this is a real election? Hmm...

4 Comments:

At 5/19/2005 07:42:00 AM, Blogger Highlander said...

"till the last drop of my blood."

hmmm do you think he expects to be assassinated ? that would make him a martyr a la Hariri style ..

 
At 5/19/2005 07:51:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The man has to be applauded for his nack for show biz.

 
At 5/19/2005 09:47:00 AM, Blogger Solomon2 said...

Now my question is, who will count the ballots? I recall one newspaper story a decade ago: the reporter asked Egyptian officials for a list of registered parties and was handed a list with party names in the left column and the results from next week's elections in the right column. (Sorry, I can't find the article.)

 
At 5/23/2005 01:19:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Solomom2 , That would be so cool if you could remember where to find that article! That is so funny! I love it...

 

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