The National Association for Change (NAC), established by would-be presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei, has taken its signature-collecting campaign to Upper Egypt and Alexandria. The NAC hopes to collect a total of one million signatures for its “Together We'll Change” platform, which includes seven basic demands for political reform. Campaign coordinator Nasser Abdel Hamid said that he had obtained 45,000 signatures from residents of the Upper Egyptian cities of Assiut, Sohag and Qena. “More than 200 young men from these cities volunteered to help us collect signatures,” he said, adding that the campaign had so far reached 85 percent of its overall target. The NAC has also launched a simultaneous campaign in Alexandria. “We have managed to collect 150 signatures within the first hour,” said NAC Alexandria branch coordinator Mohamed Abdel Kerim. “Supporters of Gamal Mubarak [son of President Hosni Mubarak and possible contender in next year's presidential elections] mocked us in the beginning,” he said. “Now they're imitating us by also trying to collect signatures for their candidate.” In a related development, police on Wednesday arrested six members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement for participating in ElBaradei's signature campaign in Alexandria. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
