Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, who was appointed on Tuesday, has told Hayat television channel that he is yet to finalise his cabinet.
El-Beblawi said that he is not committed to a particular date to finalise selecting the new cabinet, and that his only commitment is to form a competent administration representing different political currents for what is arguably “the most important government in Egypt’s history.”
El-Beblawi stated that the ministers of defence, interior and foreign affairs would remain in their posts.
Egypt's interim president Adly Mansour appointed liberal economist Hazem El-Beblawi Egypt’s new prime minister on Tuesday, after several days of fervent speculation about who the candidate would be.
El-Beblawi, a former finance minister and member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, was not the first choice of some of political parties which supported the ouster last week of former president Mohamed Morsi and his government.
Most of the groups involved in the talks had preferred liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei for the premiership, but his nomination to the role was blocked on Saturday by objections from the Salafist Nour Party.
ElBaradei had been backed by the anti-Morsi ‘Rebel’ campaign and other "revolutionary" youth groups and parties.
Ziad Bahaa El-Din, liberal lawyer and another co-founder of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, was also floated for the position, but the ultra-conservative Nour Party similarly rejected his candidacy.
