The Dostour Party plans to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, leader Mohamed ElBaradei said late Sunday.
In a statement posted on the party’s official Facebook page, ElBaradei said the decision to boycott came after the president’s office ignored the opposition’s demands to ensure fair and clean elections.
The president’s office last week set 27 April as the date for starting the House of Representatives elections, but it changed the date Saturday to 22 April after members of the Coptic Christian minority criticized the timing, because some voting would have taken place during Easter.
ElBaradei is the first opposition figure to call on Egyptians to boycott the elections, saying the process under Islamist President Mohamed Morsy would be “an act of deception.”
The party said in their statement Sunday that the call for elections comes amid escalating human rights abuses and police brutality, and when female protesters are subjected to mass sexual assault.
“This escalation requires the sacking of the interior minister, and holding him accountable. It also requires forming a fact-finding committee to investigate such incidents [of abuses],” the statement said.
The statement just came before an interview with the president in which he promised to have fair elections, according to excerpts of the pre-recorded interview given to journalists in advance.
