El-Erian: New Cabinet Should Prepare Egypt for Elections, Fulfill Revolution Demands

El-Erian: New Cabinet Should Prepare Egypt for Elections, Fulfill Revolution Demands

 In a statement to Ikhwanweb, Vice President of Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Dr. Essam El-Erian stressed hat the new cabinet should work to prepare the country for the parliamentary elections according to a schedule to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. It should not be biased to any party at the expense of the others. In addition, this government should take care of the families of martyrs and the injured, the security settings, restoring discipline to the streets, and facing the lack of security and work in order to reform the economic situation in the country.

Regarding the vision of the FJP of the new cabinet reshuffle, El-Erian said: "We – as a political party – did not participate in the new interim cabinet because we want a government of technocrats that is independent in its decisions; and because the next government is a caretaker and has a specific time-frame. The governments of political parties or groups are supposed to come through elections, and thus, it is likely to be a coalition of national unity, because it will have a great burden that requires – in this stage – to deal with many problems that have accumulated over the years."

El-Erian revealed that the prime minister asked the Muslim Brotherhood and the FJP to propose names and nominations, “but we did not offer any candidates,” he said.

Concerning the reasons why the Brotherhood decided not to participate in the new cabinet, El-Erian said: "We insist on the timetable specified in the constitutional declaration that is based on the referendum. We believe that any government should now be an interim government, because pushing for a government of politicians for an interim period is not feasible or even wise. In fact, a politician comes with a vision and he needs time to implement it, and then the street and the people will judge him and his performance, but this new government will continue for only four to five months and it thus should be technocratic."