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A former senior Egyptian diplomat is seeking the backing of an opposition party to run for president to challenge what he calls the monopolisation of power by President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak, 81 and in power since 1981, has not said if he will run again in the 2011 election but, if not, most Egyptians believe he will seek to hand power to his politician son, Gamal, 46. Both deny this.

“The Egyptian doesn’t believe his vote is credible,” Egypt’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abdallah Alashaal, 65, said.

“This regime wants to stay any way and by any means, so we have to circulate power,” he told Reuters, adding that he was speaking to several parties but was seeking the backing of the Arab Socialist Party in particular.

Former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has already shaken up Egypt’s calcified politics by saying he might seek the presidency but has set terms, including changes to the constitution’s election rules, that will be tough to achieve.

The rules make it almost impossible for any candidate to run as an independent.

The alternative is to run for one of the opposition parties although they have very limited clout in a country ruled for decades by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. ElBaradei has said he would not seek any party’s backing.

To enter an election for a party, the candidate must have held a senior party post for a year before the vote.

Mubarak swept the 2005 vote, Egypt’s first multi-candidate race but marred by irregularities, according to democracy activists.

“The main motive to run for the elections is to test the political regime in Egypt,” Alashaal told Reuters.

Alashaal, who now lectures at universities, echoed other opposition groups in calling for an end to emergency law that allows indefinite detentions.

Critics say the law, in place since 1981 following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, is used to crackdown on dissent.

“Security should help in facilitating, not blocking, democracy,” Alashaal said. Ayman Nour, who came a distant second to Mubarak in 2005, has also says he wants to run again.

He was jailed for forgery shortly after that vote, charges he says were political. That conviction is likely to prevent him running in 2011.-Reuters

An Iraqi review panel on Monday threw the results of a March election into question by invalidating votes cast for 52 candidates, officials said, possibly threatening the slim lead of a Sunni-backed alliance.

It was not immediately clear how many of the candidates barred for alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party had won seats in the March 7 ballot. If the result changed, the decision could spark anger among Sunnis just as the sectarian violence unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion recedes.

'The ruling of the review panel is politically motivated and could be detrimental to the whole democratic process in Iraq,' said Mustafa Al-Hiti, a senior member of the cross-sectarian Iraqiya alliance that rode strong Sunni support to gain a two-seat lead in the election.   

But Al-Hiti told Reuters that Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, did not expect to lose any of its 91 seats in the next 325-seat parliament as a result.

Tariq Harp, a lawyer for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, which came second and could benefit the most from any change in the election result, said he believed 'two or three winners' could be affected.   

The panel's decision came before the expected start next week of a recount of votes in Baghdad, which could also change the result and stir anger among Sunnis who saw Iraqiya's success as a vindication of their claim to greater political clout.

Sunnis' resentment at their fall from power after the ousting of Sunni dictator Saddam in 2003 helped fuel a sectarian war and a fierce insurgency after the invasion.

Iraqis had hoped the election would help the war-damaged country cement improved security and stability. Instead, the lack of a clear result has spawned protracted political uncertainty as Shi'ite-led, Sunni-backed and Kurdish  factions try to negotiate tie-ups that would allow them to gain a working majority and pick the next government.   

The impasse has occurred as international oil firms are starting to invest in Iraq's vast oilfields, launching the country on a path that could more than quadruple its oil output capacity to Saudi levels of 12 million barrels per day. – Reuters

A panel on Monday ordered a recount of ballots cast in Baghdad in Iraq’s March 7 election, raising the chance of a reversal in the results that gave a cross-sectarian group backed by minority Sunnis a slim lead.

Electoral commissioner Hamdiya al-Husseini said the manual recount would begin immediately but she was not sure how long it would take.

The capital accounts for 68 seats in the 325-seat parliament, making it a key prize, and Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance had been seeking a  recount after coming a close second in the election.

“We expect that this will change the results for the benefit of State of Law,” said Kamal el-Saadi, a senior member of Maliki’s coalition.

Seen as a milestone as Iraq emerges from the sectarian slaughter unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion, last month’s ballot produced no clear winner.

The Iraqiya list of a former prime minister, Iyad Allawi, came first with 91 seats, according to preliminary results, after winning the broad backing of Sunnis frustrated at the rise of Shi’ite political supremacy since the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

Maliki’s Shi’ite-led State of Law won 89 seats while erstwhile Shi’ite allies grouped in the Iraqi National Alliance got around 70. Minority Kurds who enjoy virtual autonomy in the north collectively control 58 or so seats.

The blocs have been involved in negotiations to form coalitions to create a working majority in the next parliament and select a prime minister.

Maliki’s alliance and the INA have been inching toward a union that could sideline Allawi, likely producing anger among Sunnis and providing fresh fuel for a stubborn Sunni-led insurgency. – Reuters

First results from Iraq’s election suggest a tight contest may be developing between PM Nouri Maliki and main rival Iyad Allawi.

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