Egyptian TV rejects 'inciting' slogan

The country's state television has refused to air a spot placed by the newly formed Egyptian Conservatives Party for what sources inside the broadcaster called an inciting campaign for the November parliamentary elections. The party chose for its campaign the slogan ‘Let's Turn the World Upside Down'. "This ban leaves no doubt that the official media policy in Egypt still follows in the footsteps of the Mubarak regime," Akmal Qortam, the chief of the Egyptian Conservatives Party, said yesterday. Egypt is due to go to the polls on November 28 to elect the first parliament since a popular revolt swept aside long-standing president Hosni Mubarak. "Egyptian television continues to impose curbs on political parties for no good reason," added Qortum. "This restriction could have been understood under Mubarak when one political party dominated the state. But this cannot be understood after the revolution, the key aim of which is to safeguard freedom of expression," he added.