Any candidate for the post of the President of the Republic must enjoy the strong personality coupled with the political and public influence. Also, he must be a leader of a political party in order to know how to practice the political activity.

Article 76 of Constitution set some conditions to candidates for the presidency whether independent or belong to a political party. President Mubarak called for amending Article 76 for the second time, as many parties did not meet the conditions, in response to those who called for giving the existed political parties the opportunity to participate in the presidential elections. However, this matter was not offered in President Mubarak's presidential program.

New amendments of Article 76 must urge the political parties to reinforce their positions and compete with the National Democratic Party. All political parties must strengthen their existence in the political street and make use of the constitutional amendments called for by President Mubarak, otherwise they will disappear from the political scene and affect negatively the democratic marsh.

Akhbar Al Youm
By: Fatma Baraka
24/2/2007