Egypt's main opposition coalition boycotts election
Iran Press TV
Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:35PM GMT
Egypt’s main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (NSF), has decided to boycott forthcoming parliamentary elections in the North African country which is scheduled for late April.
Sameh Ashour, a member of the group told reporters after a meeting of the NSF on Tuesday that the coalition would not participate in the vote because of what it called lack of guarantees for a transparent process.
"The decision of the Front, unanimously, is to boycott the elections,” he added.
Ashour further said that the NSF would also refuse to take part in a national dialogue meeting that President Mohamed Morsi has called for. The meeting was set to be aired live on television on Tuesday afternoon.
Morsi called for the dialogue meeting in a televised interview late Sunday as part of an effort to ensure a free and fair vote.
Meanwhile earlier on Tuesday, Egyptian leftist opposition party, the Popular Current, announced that it would boycott the elections and the talks.
Heba Yassin, a spokesman for the party, said the measure is aimed at protesting against “the elections law that we did not participate in drafting, and about which our opinion was not taken.”
Some Egyptian opposition groups have already threatened to boycott the elections, accusing Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party of trying to monopolize power. The president rejects the allegation.
The vote is to be held over four dates, beginning on April 22.
On February 8, thousands of Egyptian opposition protesters held demonstrations against Morsi after calls from nearly 40 opposition groups on the "Friday of Dignity."
Protesters urged Morsi to realize the goals of Egypt’s revolution that ended the 30-year-long dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
MR/PKH/SS
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