Amre Moussa

Amre Moussa was one of the first candidates to consider taking the presidential post, announcing his decision as early as February 2011. Among the most prominent candidates, Moussa is the uncontested frontrunner, according to official polls. He was endorsed by the liberal Wafd Party in April. With other heavyweights disqualified by the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission, Moussa had least 40% of the votes, according to an Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies poll surveying 1,200 Egyptians between April 14 and April 16. While Moussa was quick to embrace the revolution and was spotted in Tahrir Square as early as February 4, 2011, he has faced tough criticism about his government service record and ties to ousted President Hosni Mubarak. But from the start Moussa has sought to distinguish himself from the previous regime, casting himself as a member of Mubarak’s government but not his party. He has also embraced the military’s pivotal role during the transitional period immediately following the revolution and praised Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. “He’s a man who has a deep feeling about Egypt and about how Egypt is a country that should be respected and should move on,” Moussa told The Washington Post in February 2011. “Now he is in the driver’s seat, and I trust this will be his intention and his policy.” Moussa rose to international prominence as Egypt’s foreign minister for a decade from 1991 to 2001, gaining popularity for his outspoken anti-Israel stance. It has long been alleged that Mubarak grew increasingly concerned about Moussa’s visibility, which culminated with a popular 2001 song by Shaaban Abdel Rehim containing the lyrics “I love Amre Moussa and hate Israel.” was reported that Mubarak became concerned with Moussa’s potential influence, and soon after Moussa moved to head the League of Arab States where he served from 2001 up until the January revolution. While some criticize Moussa for not being aggressive enough in pushing Israel to negotiate in the Palestinian-Israeli standoff, his supporters claim he presided over the Arab League discussions during the difficult time of US involvement in Iraq. His advocates also credit Moussa’s role in advocating dialogue among the different Iraqi factions to avoid worse bloodshed and a full-blown civil war. Post revolution, Moussa believes that vehicles of dissent cannot be ignored and negotiation will be key. Speaking about the People’s Assembly under the Mubarak regime, Moussa says, “The president used to say do this and it [was] done. Now it is not the case, but we have to sit together, we have to agree on certain issues, and I believe the art of lobbying will have to be mastered from now on.” Referring to the growing Islamist influence in Parliament today, Moussa was also quoted as saying that policy making from now on had to be the product of discussion by several factions and not just one side. On April 18, 2012, Moussa presented his presidential platform in the impoverished neighborhood of Ezbet El-Haggana in east Cairo, pledging to focus on the poor and the marginalized. Identifying poverty as “Egypt’s number one enemy,” Moussa promised “to improve the standard of the citizen who is born in a cycle of marginaliza- tion, disease and unemployment and lives all his life in an attempt to break this captivity.” The presidential candidate’s electoral program, titled “Rebuilding Egypt: My vision of the second Republic,” includes guidelines on political, economic and social reforms as well as national security issues and tourism. To tackle rampant unemployment, Moussa proposes an unemployment stipend, worth half the minimum wage. Moussa has announced plans to reduce poverty by 20% and eliminate illiteracy among those below 40 years of age by restructuring government spending by 2016, the end of his presidential term, should he be elected. He also pledged to respect women’s rights. “Postrevolution Egypt will not be a country in which women are stripped of their rights and freedoms,” he told local media. To ensure other freedoms, Moussa promises to support the National Council for Human Rights and ensure its independence and effectiveness. Hesays he has every intention of allowing citizens to exercise their right to demonstrate and protest but is also planning to propose a law on freedom of information and another to regulate the status of churches. At the official campaign launch, Moussa stressed his staunch rejection of all types of discrimination, whether based on religion, gender or skin color. He also added that Egypt’s next president must lead a collective national goal that does not differentiate between Muslims and Christians to uplift the nation and empower the sectors needed for development to materialize. Reviving the nation’s tourism industry is another of Moussa’s missions. He would like to see tourism revenues double and has pledged to “support the tourism sector with several important procedures that will revive it and enable it to overcome the current crisis and its negative effects on tourism. This will include postponing required taxes and tariffs for a year or giving them the option to pay in installments.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal at the end of April, Moussa suggested an idea of “virtual membership” in the European Union, following EU guidelines without joining formally, as a blueprint for introducing new administrative and economic policies. When it comes to foreign policy, Moussa, along with several other presidential contenders, advocates a review of the 1979 Camp David treaty. “Egypt is committed to the peace accords with Israel. However, there are some appendices that require review, especially with regards to security inside Sinai,” he has been quoted as saying. Even before last month’s surprise decision to terminaten the natural gas deal with Israel, Moussa was one of the most vocal advocates of revising agreements channeling gas supplies to Israel. “We have to modify the prices according to global prices,” he said earlier. In a March post on Twitter, he claimed, “The message is clear to Israel: Passport to the region is to give up policy of intransigence, threatening, settlements and occupation and [allow for] the establishment of the sovereign Palestinian state.” According to reports leaked by Wikileaks, Moussa was among potential presidential contenders as early as 2006. “The next presidential elections are scheduled for 2011, and if Mubarak is still alive it is likely he will run again, and, inevitably, win,” one US cable revealed. “The most likely contender is presidential son Gamal Mubarak (whose profile is ever-increasing at the ruling party); some suggest that intelligence chief Omar Suleiman might seek the office, or dark horse Arab League Secretary- General Amre Moussa might run.” Moussa’s presidency may also mean closer relations with Iran. “Moussa has publicly and privately minimized Iran’s threat, claiming that the Arab world should strengthen its economic and cultural ties with Iran,” according to another cable, 09CAIRO722. “Moussa believes that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict poses the greatest danger to the region, and has consistently pressed the US to do more to stop Israeli settlement activity and advance the political process between Israelis and Palestinians.” At the same time, Moussa recognizes the significance of Egypt’s historical relations with the US: “The US also has major interests with us and the Arab world,” he says. “I’m against those that believe the US is an automatic enemy.” When it comes to leadership in the Arab world, Moussa disagrees vociferously with pundits who see Turkey or Iran emerging as regional leaders. Speaking to Foreign Policy magazine in February, Moussa emphasized, “The Arab world will not be led by Turkey or Iran; it has to be led by the Arab countries themselves. And Egypt, as the largest Arab country, should have a leadership role in that regard. This will require a new type of leadership in the 21st century — you cannot lead if you are not advanced technologically; you cannot lead if you have no real development program.”