Egypt's political groups threaten to boycott parliamentary polls

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and dozens of other political parties have threatened to boycott legislative elections, if no amendments to the electoral laws were to be made. MB official website said that the democratic coalition, including the Justice and Freedom Party affiliated to the MB and the Wafd party, set some conditions for participation, including the abolishment of an article about the candidacy system. The coalition asked for holding the presidential elections after the parliamentary polls and to hand over power before the middle of the next year. According to the latest amendments, two-thirds of the seats of the People's Assembly (the lower house) were selected on a party list system while one third were for independent candidates. However, the opposition groups have called for a pure proportional representation system. At an emergency meeting on Wednesday night, the participants asked for issuing a law for political isolation to stop the dismantled National Democratic Party members to participate in politics for 10 years. They threatened to boycott the elections if the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) wouldn't respond to their demands. Despite reservations in the new electoral laws, some political movements including Salafists and the April 6 movement agreed to participate in a sit-in on Friday. Still 34 parties headed by Freedom and Juristic party and Wafd have not made their decision yet. The SCAF decided on Tuesday that the People's Assembly and Shura Council elections will be held on Nov. 28 and Jan. 29 respectively.