ElBaradei ends Egyptian presidential run

Cairo (CNN) – Former International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei has withdrawn his candidacy for Egypt’s presidency, his campaign announced Saturday.

He withdrew because “his conscience does not allow him to run or for any other official position unless there is a real democratic system not just a symbolic one,” according to a statement from his campaign.

“He believes people who will build the country are the youth and that he will continue working with them in the coming phase and they are the one’s who will fulfill the nation’s hopes of freedom, human dignity and social justice,” the statement said.

ElBaradei was at one point considered a frontrunner in the race, but recent victories in local elections by Islamist groups tested the viability of his candidacy.

The next president will succeed that military government that took over after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak.

According to his campaign, ElBaradei sees chaos and mismanagement in the interim military government, which “pushes the nation away from the goals of the revolution.”

ElBaradei came to the rough and tumble of Egyptian politics late in life after a distinguished career as an international diplomat.

In 2005, ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to curb nuclear proliferation.

The tall technocrat was in many ways an unlikely presidential candidate in Egypt, more cerebral than cut-and-thrust.

In 2010, after returning to Egypt, he called for a nationwide campaign of political reform and mobilized a grassroots organization that gathered more than 1 million signatures to demand changes to a political system dominated by one man for nearly 30 years.

One of ElBaradei’s political rivals in the presidential race, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, said he regretted ElBaradei’s decision.

Moussa’s campaign told CNN that the candidate commended the role ElBaradei played in the changes Egypt has seen in past months, and hopes that he will continue his efforts to rebuild the country.

ElBaradei’s motive for withdrawing echoes a sentiment that has also been heard on the streets.

The ruling military council is supposed to just be an interim measure until democratic elections are held, but the transition has not been quick or transparent enough for some Egyptians.

A series of protests in Cairo last month resulted in violent and sometimes deadly clashes between demonstrators and the country’s armed forces.

Meanwhile, in the first two rounds of local elections held in Egypt in the past months, Islamist parties have performed strongly, indicating what direction the next government of Egypt may head.

(edition.cnn.com / 14.01.2012)