President of the government-run High Elections Commission al-Sayed Abdel Aziz Omar declared this week that the withdrawal of opposition parties from parliamentary runoffs–slated for Sunday–was illegal.
“The withdrawal deadline ended before the elections began,” he explained. “You can't pull out in the middle of the process.”
Omar went on to call on voters to participate in Sunday's runoffs, saying it was their "constitutional right."
He also implored the public to maintain calm during the polling so as "not to disturb social peace and stability."
On Wednesday, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd Party announced their pullout from the electoral process, protesting the alleged rigging witnessed on elections day.
Of the 508 seats in parliament, 43 percent were decided on Sunday's elections. The rest will be decided on the run-offs on 5 December.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
