Dubai The newly-appointed Hesham Qandil has overcome the challenge of forming his cabinet, which is expected to be sworn in soon, but a new list of challenges will surface, which will be a longer and much harder list, analysts said.
Qandil will find himself in a position where he has to widen the popularity base of his cabinet, boost the confidence bridges with people, show his opponents his abilities and prove to his supporters that they were right in backing him.
Then, he will tackle political, economic and security issues, they added.
“The security and economy, which are basically related are the top priorities for the prime minister [Hesham Qandil],” said prominent Egyptian journalist Ayman al Sayyad.
“But before these two issues, there is an important task of finishing the transition period and moving the Egyptian society to a new one,” he said, adding that there is a need for reforms in different institutions and organisations, including judiciary, media and security.
The transitional phase in Egypt did not start with overthrowing the regime of Hosni Mubarak, but “actually with the election of a new president,” analysts said.
A second challenge for Qandil will be facing the new reality, they added. While he is expected to face some obstacles from the “old guards” who will seek his failure, “the media, whether privately-owned or publically-owned, will not highlight any achievement,” said Mohammad Abbas, one of the prominent youth leaders in Egypt and member of the conservative, moderate “Egyptian Trend” – a political group that is part of the National Front.
Asked whether the “new guard”, including the president Mohammad Morsi, will be capable of defending Kandil, Abbas said the president “doesn’t have anything to defend with. The public media is attacking Mursi himself.”
The Egyptian economy, which had serious problems even before the regime of Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, has suffered more with the political instability in the country and the differences between the brotherhood and the outgoing cabinet, reports said.
A press report said “because of the turmoil in the country, which dried up tourism and foreign investments, Egypt’s foreign currency reserves dropped by more than one-half since the popular uprising.
