Egypt government resigns

CAIRO, Feb 24 (AFP): The government of Egypt's prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi submitted its resignation to interim president Adly Mansour on Monday, the cabinet said, in a move just weeks before a presidential poll.
 Egypt is due to hold the presidential election by mid-April, and defence minister and army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely tipped to win the poll if he stands.
But Sisi has to resign from the government and the army before he can officially announce his bid to run for president.
Beblawi's government was appointed in July after Sisi ousted Islamist Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first elected and civilian president.
"The cabinet decided in light of the current situation that the country is going through... to submit its resignation to Adly Mansour, the interim president," the cabinet said in a statement.
Beblawi praised the government's performance on state television on Monday.
"For the past six to seven months, the government assumed its responsibilities and duties... the government did not spare any efforts to get Egypt out of a bad phase," Beblawi said in reference to security and economic issues.
"This is not the time for personal interests. The nation is above everybody."
Beblawi said the government had also completed the first step in a road map outlined by the military-installed authorities, of holding a referendum on a new constitution in January.
Meanwhile: Presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi said he fears a return to autocratic rule in Egypt, telling AFP that the army chief, a likely election frontrunner, has failed to dispel these concerns.
Sabbahi, 59, who came third in the 2012 presidential election that Islamist Mohamed Morsi won, is seen by his supporters as a serious challenger, but Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely tipped to win the poll if he stands.
The election, part of a road map outlined by Egypt's interim military-installed authorities for a return to democratic rule, is expected to be held by mid-April.
While his chances of winning against Sisi are seen as slim, Sabbahi said in an interview with AFP that young members of his leftist Popular Current, which he founded in 2012, encouraged him to run for the presidency.
Youths who took part in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak "feel that their revolution was being stolen... as their comrades were being jailed and some killed before their eyes".
"Mubarak's men are now making a comeback," Sabbahi said, adding that Sisi "has not taken a position that could comfort the youths regarding the danger... which is the return to power of those who symbolised corruption under Mubarak".