OnIslam.net

CAIRO – A day after setting a date for the first parliamentary elections since president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, parties from across Egypt’s political spectrum have threatened to boycott the polls unless military rulers amend the election law.

"We will boycott if they have not responded positively to our demands by Sunday," Sayyid al-Badawi, the head of the liberal Wafd party, told Reuters.

Nearly 60 political parties and groups said late Wednesday, September 28, that they would boycott the elections unless the ruling military council amends the election law.

The threat came a day after the military council, which took over from Mubarak in February, decreed that the polls will be held over three rounds starting on November 28.

The elections will be held under an amended law under which two-thirds of parliament will be elected through a party list proportional representation system and the rest through a simple majority.

Only independent candidates are eligible to run for the simple majority seats, according to the law.

Political parties have been pressuring the military council to base the vote exclusively on the party-based proportional list system.

They argue that allowing individuals to seek election would enable remnants of the ousted regime to use money and tribalism to enter parliament.

Egyptian parties also want the military council to activate a "Treason Law" issued in the 1950s to fight political corruption and abuse of office.

In August, the government revived an amended version of the law, state news agency MENA reported. It was sent to the military council but has yet to be approved.

Under the law, any government official, member of parliament or minister may be punished for abuse of power if they, their relatives or acquaintances benefited from public office they held.

Activists said the law would effectively bar many Mubarak loyalists from running for office for 10 years.

Mass Protest

The boycott threat comes a day before a planned mass rally by activists against the junta’s policies on Friday.

"We are returning to civil resistance as we see Mubarak's regime still in place," said Mahmoud Afify, a spokesman for the April 6 Movement, which helped lead the revolution.

Activists have staged a series of small, spontaneous demonstrations across Cairo this week in what analysts say could mark a return to the tactics of the Jan. 25 uprising.

They are demanding the military council to hand over power to civilians more quickly.

But the planned rally is boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.

"We have made our demands in statements and we expect the military council to respond in the next few days," secretary-general Mohamed Saad el-Katatni told Reuters.

He added the Brotherhood and its party would review their position with other parties on Sunday, depending on the army's response.