Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called Tuesday for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down to usher in a new government.

In a New York Times op-ed Tuesday, the Massachusetts Democrat appealed to Mr. Mubarak’s sense of nationalism, saying the Egyptian president “must accept that the stability of his country hinges on his willingness to step aside gracefully to make way for a new political structure.”

“One of the toughest jobs that a leader under siege can perform is to engineer a peaceful transition,” Mr. Kerry wrote. “But Egyptians have made clear they will settle for nothing less than greater democracy and more economic opportunities.”

He also called on the Egyptian president to establish “fair” elections and “to take himself and his family out of the equation” by pledging that neither he nor his son will run. And he urged Mr. Mubarak to think about his legacy, saying he has the opportunity to “turn the Arab world’s most populous country into a model for how to meet the demands for reform engulfing the region.”

Mr. Kerry called for change in Washington, too, saying aid to Egypt should focus more on job-creation and economic stability instead of the military.