Egypt is expected to field Mustafa Fekki as the replacement for Amr Moussa, after Moussa's stint as Secretary-General to the Arab League ends in mid-May.

A high-ranked diplomatic source told Ahram Online that Egypt will withdraw Mofeed Shehab, former Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils, as a candidate, and present several candidates for the position, with Fekki , former member of the Shura Council, former member of the NDP and political adviser to former president Hosni Mubarak topping the list.

A report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was sent to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, said that many members of the Arab League requested Shehab be replaced with another candidate since he was seen as an integral part of the old regime.

The report said that there is a “silent and unspoken rejection” of Shehab’s candidacy and stressed the importance of replacing him with a candidate that will be accepted both by Arab countries and the public.

It was reported earlier that Nabil El Araby was a possible candidate and was approved by Moussa himself. However, Ahram Online's diplomatic source has refused to confirm or deny whether El Araby is on the list of candidates. The source pointed out that Fekki is seen as a better candidate because he was a delegate of the Arab League and assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

However, despite the fact that El Araby has held many prestigious positions in the United Nations and as an ambassador to Moscow, he lacks experience in the Arab field, since he has spent most of his effort on international affairs.