A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Morsi Names Prime Minister: a Nearly Unknown Technocrat

The new Prime Minister of Egypt has a Ph.D. in irrigation and sewage. That may be a good thing; irrigation is vital if rather low-profile, and the PM is traditionally a fairly faceless technocrat. Usually not quite so faceless no one has heard of him, though. He was a member of the outgoing interim Cabinet as Irrigation and Water Resources Minister, and before that a bureaucrat in the Water Ministry.

The appointment of Hisham Qandil after a wait of nearly a month comes as something of an anticlimax, however: the delay had led to reports, which may be true, that SCAF and/or the Muslim Brotherhood leadership had vetoed certain candidates with a national or international profile.

He's the youngest Prime Minister in Egyptian history, they say, and is said to have never belonged to any political party, but is rumored to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood. Note that he has a beard, but not a heavy one, The MB says he's not a member.

His CV, in Arabic, is here. He's US educated (North Carolina and Utah).

Right now that's about all most Egyptians know. Few of them apparently ever heard of him either. More comment later perhaps.

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