Egyptian opposition leader Mohammad ElBaradei has called on all Egyptians to take part in the planned nationwide protests on Sunday to overthrow Islamist President Mohammad Mursi.
ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate and former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a video message released on Saturday that President Musi has “failed” in leading the nation toward a proper democratic path following the Jan. 25, 2011 revolution.
“This revolution has erupted so that each one of us lives as human and be treated like human,” ElBaradei said.
“Unfortunately, nothing of this has been achieved. We felt that we are in a deadlock and that the country will collapse not because the president is from the Muslim Brotherhood and not because there is only one party that rules, but because the regime has failed, completely failed,” the founder of Dostour Party added.
“We gave him [Mursi] the permit to drive; he doesn't know how to drive. The country is decaying and is falling, this is not Egypt and this is not the revolution,” he said.
While many opposition forces that called for the anti-Mursi rallies on Sunday demand the ouster of President Mursi, ElBaradei said the objective is to go back to the ballot box by forcing Mursi to call for early presidential elections.
“All of Egypt has to come out tomorrow to say that we want to go back to the ballot box and return to build the foundation of the house we will live in,” ElBaradei said.
President Musi has described opposition parties as losers who failed to beat him in elections and are taking their battles to the streets. He is counting on massive Islamist forces backing him to counter the opposition in the streets and banking on his rivals to fizzle out as occurred in previous challenges to his rule.
The powerful Egyptian military on high alert will be watching the Sunday events unfold. It has deployed reinforcements near major cities and towns amid reports the generals might step in to take power should there be much bloodshed.
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