Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court has overturned an earlier verdict suspending elections at the Journalists Syndicate, judicial sources said on Monday.
The sources said the court validated the electoral process, referring the issue to the syndicate's board to decide on the new date for the polls.
On Thursday, the State Council's Administrative Court halted the elections following a lawsuit raised by Khaled al-Atfy, a nominee for the syndicate’s board, who said in his petition that Salah Abdel Maqsoud, the acting syndicate chief, had called for the vote in violation of syndicate regulations, which stipulate that elections should be proposed by an elected syndicate chief, not an acting one.
The elections were previously scheduled for last Friday, but were delayed due to the court ruling.
The syndicate's former chief, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, a loyal supporter of former President Hosni Mubarak, resigned in February following protests from journalists demanding his removal.
In a meeting in September, the syndicate's board decided to hold elections for a new chief and a new board. Its legal committee started receiving candidacy applications from 17 to 21 September.
The syndicate said in a statement on Thursday that it had provided the court with documents proving that the decision to hold elections was made unanimously by its board members, and not individually by its acting chief.
