Thursday, May 17, 2012

#EgyElections : And the first lady will be from these ladies..

We spoke about the man who will be the next but we have not spoken about the lady who will be and thus here is my attempt to gather some info about the future First lady of Egypt. There is no particular order for this list that included only the top presidential candidates’ wives to save your time as well mine.

Laila Badawy

Laila  ,Moussa and their granddaughter
Amina 
Laila Badawy is the wife of Amr Moussa and she is familiar with protocols after living decades as a wife of diplomat. Laila descends from famous family , her uncle is famous constitutional law guru Tharwat Badawy. 
As a fresh graduate of Faculty of engineering “University of Alexandria”  she married young diplomat Moussa and moved with him to New York where he was working in 1968 in the Egyptian commission in UN.
She completed her studies in the US then gave birth to her children Hazem and Hania then she continued to have studies whether in Cairo university or university of Columbia. When Moussa was our ambassador in India , she was a volunteer in University of Delhi.
She is a very beautiful lady who descends from rich family. Her photos can be seen in the lifestyle magazines from time to time in Egypt. She is active in charity. She is also a member in some Lions clubs if I am not mistaken. She is well known as “Laila Hanem” in close circles yet despite this title reminds some with Suzanne Mubarak still in very few statements to the media , Laila Badawy made sure that she will not be involved in politics. Badawy and Mousa are grandparents.

Azza Tawfik

Late Azza Tawfik 
Azza Tawfik was the late wife of Ahmed Shafik, a daughter of former minister and free officer who has just passed away from less than month ago after long battle with Cancer. Shafik did not speak that much about his wife , the mother of his three daughters despite he looked sad in some interviews right after her death. He only took 3 days off his campaign before returning back on track.
Personally I can’t imagine how he went on campaigning whether in her last days or even in the time he should mourn her yet I respect that he did not use his sickness or marriage to win sympathy. “I remember John Edwards”

Aliaa Khalil

Aliaa Khalil is the wife of Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh . Khalil met Abu El Fotoh and married in their last year in faculty of medicine , Cairo university through friends. Abu El Fotoh was the last one to get married from Islamists group in the university and contrary to what you think she is not from the Muslim brotherhood.  
Aliaa Khalil 
Khalil is a practicing gynecologist who got a private practice and a mother of 3 daughters who are all doctors as well 3 sons.
Abu El Fotoh made it clear if his wife is elected as a president will not have any role except meeting. Dr. Aliaa Khalil's first appearance in one her husband's campaign rallies was last Wednesday , in an event called "Egyptian Lady". She was seated between actors Athar El Hakim and Hanan Turk.
Abu El Fotoh and Khalil are grandparents , one of their of their grandchildren is called Yara.
Abu El Fotouh with his family 
By the way  Abu El Fotoh’s family has recorded a TV interview with some channel that will be aired soon.

Naglaa Hashim

Naglaa and Khalid 
Naglaa Hashim is Khaled Ali’s wife. Born in 1977 , Hashim is considered the youngest among all those ladies. She works as a human rights activist and researcher in El Nadeem Center.
She believes her husband will have a better real chance in 2016 elections.
She is also a mother of Omar “8 years” and Amina “3 years”. Omar and Amina are also the youngest among the presidential candidates’ offspring.

Siham Nagm

Nagm 
Siham Nagm is the wife of Hamdeen Sabbahi. Originally from Port Said , she lived through the 1956 and 1967 wars in the city.  She was graduated from the faculty of commerce , Cairo University in 1977. She works as education expert and heads the “Arab network for educating illiterates Adults”.
She welcomed her husband’s candidacy yet she made it clear that she refuses to be “First lady” instead she will help her in her specialty.
Nagam is a mother of Ahmed “a director” and Salma “ a TV host and singer”.
The Sabbahis

Naglaa Mahmoud

Naglaa Mahmoud 
Naglaa Mahmoud is the wife of Mohamed Morsi ,the candidate of MB. Naglaa Mahmoud married Morsi in 1979. She studied translation and worked as a translator while she was in the States with her husband. She gave birth to Shaimaa and Mohamed there in the States.
She believes that the first lady should not have a role on the political or social level. She believed that her husband would be a better prime minister than president.
She was born in 1962. There is a big chance that she may be the upcoming First lady of Egypt.
She is the only lady to appear in her husband’s campaign rally. She spoke to the official newspaper of Freedom and Justice Party.

Amani Hassan El Ashamawy

El Ashmawy after winning an award in UAE
Mohamed Salim El Awa’s current wife is Amani Hassan El Ashmawy who is specialized in children literature and already penned several children books. The graduate of law school already descends of a very political family with Muslim brotherhood roots. Her dad was the famous defected MB member Hassan El Ashmawy. Her cousins are judge Noha El Zeiny and Judge Ashraf El Ashmawy. By all measures her family is from the very interesting families in Egypt. She is an award winning children book author.
El Ahmawy already appeared on Tahrir TV and spoke about husband and how he loves to was dishes and eat foul “beans”. She made it clear that she refuses the title “First Lady” adding that she will continue in writing books for children.
Mrs. Amani El Ashamawy
Mrs. El Ashamawy is the second wife of Mohamed El Awa. His first wife was Dr. Asmahan Tawfik El Nunu who passed after long battle with cancer in 1992. El Nunu descended from a very rich family.
El Awa got 3 daughters and 2 sons , the most famous one of them is Fatimah El Awa who announced her endorsement for Mohamed ElBaradei in 2010. Also her sister Mariam El Awa is married from the son of famous judge Tarek El Bishary and currently lives in UK where she studies to get a PHD. El Awa’s sons live abroad ; Mohamed works as pharmacist and lives in US while Abdel Hamid works as dentist and lives in UK.
El Awa also got 3 stepsons

It is noticeable that none of these ladies have been featured in the media except may be Mrs. Mohamed Salim El Awa and  Mrs. Mohamed Morsi and it is noticeable that almost all the presidential candidates have made it clear that there will be no first lady’s role in the upcoming presidential term except in a very narrow way only related to the protocols including the very liberal candidates like Amr Moussa.
There is no secret that the role of Egypt’s first lady will be minimized in the upcoming republic at least for awhile in order to make the Egyptians forget how Suzanne Mubarak used to interfere in politics in Egypt.
Nevertheless when I look back to the biographies of these ladies , I feel proud. I hope that the next Frist lady of Egypt will understand her role for real and stands for Egypt

3 comments:

  1. I loved this review. It needed to be done because it's definitely something to know about the candidates. I just think you should have included more candidates. But definitely a very good job! well done

    ReplyDelete
  2. If I may add, Ms Laila Badawi who was my classmate at the Alexandria University, graduated in 1968 with honors and was appointed as a staff member. She was a very decent and intelligent student. She has a PhD degree form Columbia University. Her other uncle is the well known philosopher Dr Abdel Rahman Badawi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdel_Rahman_Badawi and http://encyclopedia.mitrasites.com/abdel-rahman-badawi.html
    Nevertheless, I, personally, won't vote for Mr Moussa.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A lot of wrong information. For instance: Fatimah ElAwa is married to Tarek ElBishry's son and not Mariam.

    ReplyDelete

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