By Jaime Ortega.
The third try seems to be always the last.
Egypt has a new prime minister. At 77 years, the liberal economist Hazem Beblawy the former minister of finance in one of the first governments of the post-Mubarak regime, assumed the task of leading the country towards parliamentary and presidential elections that could be held within six months.
Furthermore, the Nobel Peace Prize Mohamed ElBaradei has been named vice president and will be responsible for foreign affairs.
The state news agency also indicated that the ‘premier’ queries started already o configure his cabinet just six days after the coup that ousted from power the former Islamist Mohamed Mursi, the first president elected in the polls in Egyptian history.
The Salafist Al Nur, who blocked the previous two appointments, have advanced to support the appointment of Beblawy although their currently studying the designation of El Baradei as vice president focused on international affairs.
Beblawy was finance minister of the military government between July and November 2011. He is one of the founders of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, an member of the Socialist International party.
From long international career, Beblawy is a figure that can attract foreign investment and bolster an economy ravaged by present civil instability.
The new prime minister has been chief executive of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asian United Nations chief and the Export Development Bank of Egypt. For nine years, he was Professor of Economics at the University of Alexandria. And he has to his credit an extensive resume as a professor at the universities of Cairo, Ain Shams, The American Cario, Kuwait, California and La Sorbonne in Paris.
Yesterday’s interim president Adli Mansur announced a timetable for holding parliamentary and presidential elections within six months.
The presidential decree established a swift: In four months the Egyptians would have to vote in a referendum for the constitutional reform. And in early 2014, would return to the polls to elect parliament and then the first president.
