TELLIN' OLD PHAROAH:

Ex-UN nuclear chief: change in Egypt is inevitable (SARAH EL DEEB, 2/28/10, AP)

Respected worldwide and untouched by the corruption tainting much of Egypt's current regime, ElBaradei has turned his focus to promoting electoral reforms and constitutional amendments that would allow a credible rival candidate to run in next year's presidential election.

He has been meeting with various groups at his house since returning to Cairo a week ago after nearly three decades abroad, including women and youth representatives who initiated a petition calling on him to run for presidency. Over 100,000 people have joined a Facebook group supporting his candidacy. [...]

ElBaradei said the majority of Egyptians need to be educated about basic rights and freedom, and he hopes to persuade them to join his movement as a way out of increasing poverty and political stagnation.

"People need to understand the linkage between the bread they eat and democracy. That is not easy. They are not used to that," he said. [...]

The regime would not be able to ignore the demands for guarantees for free and fair elections and the removal of candidacy restrictions if millions of people sign on, he said.

Hassan Nafaa, the coordinator for the new group, said other demands included independent monitoring of the election and the lifting of emergency laws.

The first test will be parliamentary elections in October, followed by the 2011 presidential vote.

When asked if Egypt's government could face protests like those that broke out in Iran, ElBaradei said he hoped to avoid that but it was up to the government.

"It is inevitable that change will come to Egypt. What I'm trying to do is pre-empt a point of clash between the government and the people," he said.