Amr Moussa, Director General of the Arab League and presidential hopeful, said that Egypt's political regime should integrate elements of presidential and parliamentary regimes. Egypt is not ready for a parliamentary regime, added Moussa. The proposed regime gives more authority to the president than the parliamentary one, said Moussa during a meeting at al-Gazeera club in Cairo. He said the constitution should determine the authorities of the president, and demanded increasing the presidential terms to three or four terms. Moussa criticized the constitutional announcement which restricted the authorities of the next president who will take office for two terms. He insisted on keeping the amended articles in the next constitution, which will be formulated by an institutional assembly. Moussa said he thinks it is not the suitable time to discuss whether priority should be given to parliamentary elections or establishing the new constitution. He said that everyone should participate in formulating the constitution, as this is not the role of the elected parliaments but that of the institutional assembly. He suggested electing a public authority to recognize the constitutional document, and said the establishment of the Egyptian constitution should not be limited to constitutional scholars and should be extended to everyone so that a national document gets established. Moussa said he refused conducting parliamentary elections in September, and ruled out that the next elections will obtain Islamic majority. He said the next parliamentary elections will not see a specific majority. Moussa also added that Egypt's political arena is not prepared for elections. Moussa said he is examining several economic and social files in order to prepare an economic program for his electoral campaign. He blamed the policies of the former regime for the economic deterioration that the country has been witnessing for the past 30 years. He said that democracy, reform and development are what should be given priority to at this stage. He also said that it is unacceptable that the rate of unemployment has increased by 12 percent and that inflation has reached 11 percent. Moussa said that improving security and the political situation will lead to economic improvement. He said that many developed nations have offered Egypt financial help in order to improve its economy. He also said the Egyptian government will open the door for increasing investments, and will invite tourists to visit Egypt to support the Egyptian economy and restore Egypt's position.
