First: Candidates' statements and activities
Presidential candidates will be ending their electoral campaign by Sunday. Three days before the campaigning period is over, candidates have intensified their activities to promote their platforms.

    The Egyptian northeaster city of Port Said was a focal point of candidates. Dr. Refaat Al Agroudy, Ayman Nour and Ossama Shaltout organized public marches and held conferences in the coastal city.

   They talked to the people of Port Said about their electoral platforms. Meanwhile, Port Said was bristling with banners and posters supporting the NDP candidate. Following are the major activities of the electoral campaigning taken place yesterday:

   Mamdouh Qenawy: Detention camps will turn to child care centres. Percentage of workers and farmers in Parliament will be reconsidered.

Mubarark: LE 17 billion annually for expanding Egypt's industrial base.

Wahid Al Uxory: Election will be fair.

Noaman Gomaa: Public conference today in Tanta.

Ayman Nour: Electoral tour today in Arish and tomorrow on Tahrir Square.

Refat al-Agroudy and Ossama Shaltout: Electoral tour in Port Said.

(Akhbar, Ahram, Al Masry Al Youm, Wafd 2 Sept.)

The Constitutional Social Party

The Constitutional Social Party's leader and presidential candidate, Mamdouh Qenawy, yesterday said that he ran in the presidential elections with the purpose of enriching this experiment and taking part in the transition to democracy which Egypt is undergoing. He claimed that all the candidates quoted parts of his party's platform which he put forth in 2002.

    Qenawy asserted that, if elected, he would close down all detention camps turning it into child care centres. He vowed to reconsider the percentage of worker and farmer representatives in the Parliament, noting that those present in Parliament are not workers or farmers. Hence the weakness of the parliament. Mr. Qenawy promised that, if elected, he will give more space to adult education.

    Mr. Qenawy asserted that his nomination in the election was a real benefit for his newly-founded party and a golden chance to promote the party's principles.

   He said he was annoyed because he was not considered a strong candidates, emphasizing that he is a real candidate.

The National Democratic Party

The NDP candidate President Hosni Mubarak, in a public conference in Sharqueya Governorate, vowed the following:

- Prioritizing attention given to rural areas and maintaining the farmers' and workers' rate of earnings.

- New formulas of cooperation and participation among senior farmers and small-scale farmland possessors.

- More development of the banking sector to provide nearly LE 17 billion annually for widening the industrial base.

- Promoting conditions of rural women to enhance their participation in development and in political life.

- Continuing subsidies and pay increases as well as doubling the number of families benefiting from the social insurance scheme.

- Supporting small- and medium-scale projects through raising the financing of 2000 medium-scale projects annually which would create 900 thousand job opportunities during the coming six years.

- Developing the pension scheme to guarantee more income for pensioners, pay pensions for those who do not have and secure minimum limit of pension for female breadwinners who are not covered by insurance.

President Mubarak, NDP candidate, will continue his campaign tomorrow. he will hold a rally in Alexandria.

Misr Arab Social Party

Mr. Wahid Al Uxory, candidate of the Misr Arab Social Party, said that he ran the election because it is a historic moment which he seized to demonstrate his party's platform. Al Uxory believes that the elections will be fair.

Al Wafd Party

Tanta witnesses today a public conference for Dr. Noman Gomaa, Al Wafd Party's leader and presidential candidate.

(Al Wafd 2 Sept.)                                                                                                                                                              

    In an interview with Mr. Abdel Latif Al Menawy, head of the TV News sector on Egypt's Channel One, Dr. Noaman Gomaa said that the people would have the last word in the election, noting that the Egyptian citizens began to feel the real change and the necessity of participation.

  He pointed out that his yesterday's visits to the political currents and powers are a demonstration of mutual respect and cordiality. He denied making any deals with anyone.      (Al Wafd 2 Sept.)

Al Wefaq Party

Al Wefaq Party's leader and presidential candidate, Dr. Refaat Al Agroudy, made an electoral tour Wednesday in Port Said where he toured the streets and the squares in the country. He also met some of the citizens and briefed them on his platform in a bid to secure their votes.    (Al Akhbar 2 Sept.)

Al Ghad Party

Al Ghad Party's leader and presidential candidate, Dr. Ayman Nour, arrives in Al Arish today and is due in Kafr Al Sheikh Governorate this afternoon. He will also hold a public conference tomorrow on Al Tahrir Square.

(The website of Ayman Nour's campaign – Al Akhbar – Al Masry Al Youm 2 Sept.)

The Solidarity Party

The Solidarity Party's leader and presidential candidate, Dr. Osama Shaltout, organized an electoral march touring the streets and the squares of Port Said. Nearly 10 cars and a limited number of citizens participated in the march. On its part, the Secretariat of the Solidarity Party circulatedpublications that showed pictures of Dr. Shaltout, his biography and platform.

(Al Akhbar 2 Sept.)