Ending months of speculation, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has called for a blanket boycott of upcoming Egyptian parliamentary elections by all opposition groups.
Speaking at a gathering of young supporters Wednesday night in Moqattam, ElBaradei said political restrictions in place under long-serving President Hosni Mubarak make it impossible to work for reform from within the system.
“We’re working in the context of an illegitimate political system,” he said. “The regime hasn’t responded to any of our demands.”
Instead he is rallying Egypt’s often deeply divided opposition forces around the idea of a mass public boycott. “That will be a message to the regime that it’s time to pack your bags and go,” he said. “The people will have said ‘You don’t represent us.’ ”
Since July, volunteers from ElBaradei’s National Association for Change have been gathering signatures in support of a seven-point list of reform demands, including the end of Egypt’s long-standing state of martial law, the establishment of international polling place monitors and the elimination of constitutional obstacles to an independent presidential candidacy. The reforms would require the rewriting of three separate articles of the constitution.
The signature campaign received a significant boost when the powerful Muslim Brotherhood announced it would lend its considerable grassroots weight to the effort. Now with ElBaradei claiming that the campaign is approaching 1 million signatures, he appears to be moving into a more forceful and confrontational stance.
“Change is coming, nobody can doubt that,” he said. “The road ahead of us is long but we must continue.”
In addition to the parliamentary boycott, ElBaradei has made hints about launching a campaign of massive civil disobedience. He insisted Wednesday that any such campaign, would be “conducted in a civilized way” but made it clear that his movement was willing to shake the regime’s stability with mass peaceful demonstrations.
“If we go down to the streets, we want that to be the first time and the last time,” he said. “I’m optimistic that we will achieve change and we will do it in a civilized way.”
The government has largely ignored ElBaradei’s reform campaign, giving him minimal coverage in state-owned newspapers. Earlier this summer, senior National Democratic Party spokesman Ali Eddin Hilal made an indirect reference to his movement, saying it would be “a mockery” to alter the constitution to suit the demands of one political group.
The prospect of a boycott has been a steady topic of political debate for months. But securing total opposition participation in the boycott could prove difficult for ElBaradei.
The Muslim Brotherhood has remained non-committal, with leaders saying the issue was still being debated internally. The Brotherhood is banned from forming a political party and subject to periodic crackdowns and mass arrests, but it secured a surprising 20 percent of parliament seats in 2005 elections, running its members as nominal independents. The Wafd Party, Egypt’s oldest opposition group, has also indicated it would prefer to contest the upcoming vote, scheduled for early November.
ElBaradei said his movement intends to continue with its signature drive as a means of proving that his reform demands are backed by a massive popular mandate. He said he hopes to gather “5 million or 10 million before the presidential elections,” scheduled for fall 2011.
President Hosni Mubarak, in power for 29 years, has not yet indicated whether he will seek a fifth 6-year term. ElBaradei has also not declared his candidacy, saying he would only run if the constitution were altered to allow him to run as an independent candidate.
