CAIRO - Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif underscored Wednesday his country's commitment to democracy and free and fair presidential polls.
"We are advancing democracy by providing multi-candidate elections," he said in the wake of a key amendment to the constitution and ahead of his first trip to the White House.
"It is very important to explain to the US government and to the president that we share the goal of having free and transparent elections," Nazif also told a Cairo press conference, referring to George W. Bush.
But the prime minister insisted that reforms would be gradual, saying "there is a maturity process that has to take place".
"This is not the end of the road, we still have a long way to go."
Egypt's parliament, facing mounting calls for reform, approved a constitutional change Tuesday that allows multiple candidates to stand in presidential polls for the first time, paving the way for a referendum on the amendment on May 25.
Under the proposed changes, political parties can field candidates five years after coming into existence. They should also have a minimum of five percent of seats in both houses of parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
The opposition, both secular and Islamist, charge that conditions for registration are so tight that only the NDP will be able to field a candidate, undermining the whole point of the reform.
Nazif explained that while the next presidential polls in September 2005 would be competitive, the new registration conditions would only apply to the 2011 polls.
He excluded the possibility the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood ever forming a party and fielding a candidate.
"They are not a party and they will never be a party because our constitution says that a party cannot be based on religion," he said.
The brotherhood is arguably Egypt's strongest opposition group and has 17 MPs sitting in parliament as independents.
It has vowed to boycott the September polls.
05/12/2005 15:41 GMT