Egypt Heads to Vote With Field Marshal Threatening Protesting ‘Troublemakers’

ElBaradei Seeks to Replace Ganzouri as 'Interim' PM

Egypt’s military junta has once again rejected the idea of giving up their power today, as Egyptians prepared to turn out for the first day of the first round of what is likely to be more than a year worth of elections.

Field Marshall Tantawi, the junta’s leader, demanded the various opposition politicians all endorse new “interim Prime Minister” Kamal el-Ganzouri, while warning the mass of protesters (which he termed “troublemakers”) not to meddle in the elections.

Mohamed ElBaradei will not be endorsing el-Ganzouri, however, and instead is hoping to parlay his credibility into a position of power in the junta, offering to replace Ganzouri as the head of the “salvation” cabinet.

ElBaradei even offered to abandon his designs on the presidency if he was given the role of “interim PM,” which might be a reflections not just of his chances of winning the presidency, but of the growing possibility that the “interim” civilian government, operating as little more than the junta’s yes men, is going to be in power for quite some time.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.