And more: from
betsy's
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Tell me this would have happened with the war in Iraq. If Mubarak means this it would really be amazing.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday ordered a revision of the country's election laws and said multiple candidates could run in the nation's presidential elections, a scenario Mubarak hasn't faced since becoming the country's leader in 1981.
In his surprise announcement, Mubarak said the country needed "more freedom and democracy," responding to critics' calls for political reform in Egypt. The possibility of a democratic election comes shortly after the historic elections in Iraq and the Palestinian territories that brought a taste of democracy to a region the United States has urged to reform.
"The election of a president will be through direct, secret balloting, giving the chance for political parties to run for the presidential elections and providing guarantees that allow more than one candidate for the people to choose among them with their own will," Mubarak said in an address broadcast live on Egyptian television.
Mubarak - who has never faced an opponent since becoming president after the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat - said his initiative came "out of my full conviction of the need to consolidate efforts for more freedom and democracy."
Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iraq, Palestinians, perhaps Lebanon, and now maybe Egypt. This is a trend that is very promising.