The heads of several political parties included in the Democratic Current have said they intend to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, given the recent amendment of election laws by the committee presided by Transitional Justice Minister Ibrahim al-Heneidy, which has ignored their demands and suggestions.
Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, head of Socialist Popular Alliance Party, said that the majority of party members prefer not to participate in the elections if the electoral system remains unchanged, while other members claimed that there is no further reason for boycott, after the former Interior Miniser Mohamed Ibrahim has been dismissed, and the killer of activist Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was identified.
The party, according to Shokr, will decide on its stance regarding the upcoming elections once the draft law is finalized.
Maasoum Marzouq, leader of the Popular Current, said that “the government’s insistence on carrying out slight amendments to the law confirms that it does not listen to political groups.”
He added that the government is being evasive about the elections in order to extend its rule. “The opposition will be dangerous if it took to the streets and not to the parliament, so we call on the government not to be reluctant to speak to political parties,” Marzouq said, pointing to the government's intention to decrease the parties' influence through allocating 80 percent of the seats to a single winner, which, according to him, violates Article 5 of the Constitution, related to political pluralism.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
