Mohamed ElBaradei of National Salvation Front says
he will not join poll 'deception',
after Hamdeen Sabbahi withdrew last week
Sunday 24 February 2013
Two leading Egyptian opposition figures have called for a boycott
of the parliamentary elections, saying
they refuse to legitimise a sham process.
Mohamed ElBaradei – a former UN diplomat
and a founding member of the National Salvation Front (NSF),
a coalition of non-Islamist parties –
said he would "not be part of an act of deception"
. Last week, his ally Hamdeen Sabbahi
withdrew his leftwing Popular Current party
from the elections for similar reasons.
The NSF has notdecided whether to withdraw.
But many within it also fear that loopholes in
Egypt's new electoral legislation will allow Islamists
to rig results in favour of the Freedom and Justice party (FJP),
the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood,
the Islamist group from which Egypt's polarising president,
Mohamed Morsi, hails.
In return, the FJP claims the NSF wants to walk away
from the democratic process simply because it lacks support.
The FJP has been the most successful party at every election
since the fall of Hosni Mubarak two years ago,
while Morsi's approval ratings, according to a recent poll,
remain at 53%.
The elections will take place in four stages over three months.
One stage was originally organised for the Easter weekend,
a decision that outraged Egypt's Coptic Christian minority,
prompting it to be postponed.
الرئيسية 
