New Delhi, March 19: Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed El Baradei said Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement helped him plan Egypt’s political transformation.
“I told protestors about Gandhi and the way he took on the British colonial rulers. Gandhi’s non-violent struggle helped us in our journey to freedom,” El Baradei said in his address to the annual India Today Conclave in New Delhi on Friday night.
“We need a parliament and president as soon as possible. We are holding workshops across Egypt to raise awareness among citizens that constitutional amendments are not enough.”
The Nobel laureate, who in January joined the popular movement that eventually unseated longtime president Hosni Mubarak, has already called on all Egyptians to reject the proposed constitutional amendments that will be put to a nationwide referendum on 19 March, 2011.
“The first outcome of a “Yes” vote on the amended constitution would be to “provide a parliament not representative of the people, composed mainly of members of the National Democratic Party and benefiting businessmen. This will take us backwards to a great extent.”
El Baradei said the period during which a new constitution is drafted will provide an opportunity to form new parties composed of youth from the revolution so that the next parliament is balanced. “It will give the president limited authorities.”
Egyptians vote on Saturday in a referendum on constitutional changes designed to allow free and fair elections but have splintered the reform movement that toppled Mubarak.
The vote has divided Egypt. There are some who seek deeper constitutional changes while there are others arguing amendments will suffice for now. A high turnout is expected.
The military council to which Mubarak handed power on February 11 is hoping the amendments will pass so it can move along the path it has set towards parliamentary and presidential elections that will allow it to cede power to an elected government. “This will be a watershed vote,” said El Baradei, adding: “People’s appetite for elections is high and there is change in the air.”
The military council tasked a judicial committee with drafting the amendments which include a two-term limit on the presidency, restricting to eight years the time a leader can serve in the office Mubarak held for 30 years.
On Hosni Mubarak, now reportedly with his family in the port town of Sharm-al-Shaikh, El-Baradei said, “I think it would be best if he left the country.”
In response to a question on the situation in neighbouring Libya, where forces loyal to Colonel Gadaffi are in a bloody battle against pro-democracy protestors, El-Baradei expressed frustration at the structure of the international security system. “I think the Security Council should authorize international military intervention in Libya to protect the civilian population,” he said.
Referring to Japan’s nuclear crisis, El-Baradei, who was chief of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency for three terms until 2009, urged a complete peer review of all reactors, civilian and military. Reactors for military use are, at the moment, outside the purview of peer review.
He said that while the Japan crisis was a wake-up call, emerging economies like India and China cannot afford to rule out nuclear energy as a source of power. “Without energy, there is no development and fossil fuels incur a cost in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,” said El-Baradei.
In response to a question on the Indo-US nuclear deal, El-Baradei said that he fully supported the deal, which gave India a level playing field with China and access to technology for civil nuclear projects.
—Agencies—