Economist Hazem el-Beblawi, a compromise candidate supported by a key Islamist party, was named Egypt’s prime minister Tuesday.
Interim President Adli Mansour also appointed former U.N. nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei as deputy to the president, responsible for foreign affairs, spokesman Ahmed el-Musalamani said.
Middle East websites said Egypt’s hardline Islamist Al-Nour party, which has objected to several candidates put forward by the military-backed interim government, had thrown its support behind el-Beblawi’s appointment.
What do we know about this guy? This:
El-Beblawi, who is in his 70s, served as finance minister in the “Revolutionary Cabinet” formed after a 2011 uprising forced Hosni Mubarak. Egypt’s military council rejected el-Beblawi’s resignation in October of 2011, when he quit in protest over deadly clashes that left at least 26 people dead. Soon after, Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi was elected president.
I guess the question is, as an economist, does el-Beblawi support or repudiate the Muslim Brotherhood polices that chased away Egypt’s vital tourism dollars? Because in the end, if we don’t want half of a country of 80 million to starve to death, that’s the only thing that really matters.
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