Economist Hazem al-Beblawi named prime minister

Adly Mansour, interim president, issued a decree Tuesday tasking Hazem al-Beblawi to head the new government. Mohamed ElBaradei has been appointed vice president for external relations.

Beblawi is an economist and politician who has served in previous governments, notably as deputy prime minister and finance minister briefly in 2011.

After the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak. Beblawi became a founding member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. He was appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs and finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle on July 17 2011.

He succeeded Samir Radwan as finance minister, who had been in office since January 2011. After nearly four months in post, Beblawi resigned from office in October 2011 when Coptic Christians were killed by security forces. However, his resignation was not accepted by the ruling military council.

Younis Makhyoun, leader of the Salafi Nour Party, said that the party does not object to the nomination of Beblawi as prime minister, but added that the party is still considering the appointment of ElBaradei as vice president, according to state-run website Al-Ahram Gate. The party had previously threatened to withdraw from the political process if ElBaradei was appointed prime minister.