Thursday’s papers: Election runoffs, opposition boycotts, US criticism, and Wikileaks on the Arab World

Thursday's newspapers focus largely on the parliamentary runoff elections scheduled for Sunday, 5 December. Headlines pertain to the opposition's stance regarding the 28 November elections and the upcoming runoffs, along with American criticism of democratic standards throughout Egypt's electoral process. Secondary headlines focus on the trove of classified US documents released by the online whistle-blower Wikileaks.

In state-owned Al-Ahram, the top headline reads "560 candidates to partake in runoff elections on Sunday…National Democratic Party guaranteed 114 seats." The sub-headlines states "elections to be held in 49 circuits, with one competition for one seat, and 117 circuits with two seats in contention – including nine for women's quota." A pie chart on Al-Ahram's front page illustrates the ruling NDP will field 377 candidates in the runoffs, while 140 independent candidates will be vying for seats, included 27 Muslim Brotherhood candidates, nine Wafd candidates, six Tagammu candidates, and one candidate from Salam Party.

Additional Al-Ahram headlines pertaining to these elections, read "Foreign Ministry objects to two American declarations, and considers them interventions in domestic affairs." Regarding the Muslim Brotherhood's stance towards the runoff elections, a headline reads "The outlawed (society) boycotts runoff elections, and withdraws all its candidates." Regarding the stance of the liberal opposition Wafd a headline states "Disagreements in Al-Wafd regarding withdrawal."

State-owned newspapers Al-Akhbar and Al-Gomhorriya post similar headlines. "After determining the outcome of 221 seats in the first round of elections for the People's Assembly," reads one headline in Al-Akhbar. The outlet provides different numbers of NDP candidates than those found in Al-Ahram. According to Al-Akhbar, "383 candidates from the National Democratic Party, 16 candidates from other parties, and 167 independents compete in runoff elections for 283 seats."

Al-Akhbar runs other headlines reading "Withdrawal of the outlawed (society) from elections, final decision from Al-Wafd expected today." Regarding US assessments of the elections, one headline reads "Egypt rejects two American statements about the elections, and considers it to be an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs."

In Al-Gomhorriya, the top headline on its front page states "Egyptian refusal of America's negative and premature stance regarding legislative elections." The state-owned paper's second headline reads "Stars of satellite channels…Failed in elections." Accompanying this headline are photos of independent and opposition MPs who served in the last parliament including Wafd's Mounir Abdel Nour, the leader of the independent bloc Gamal Zahran, Saad al-Katatni, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood bloc, and former opposition MP Mustafa Bakri, along with others.

The largest article on Al-Gomhorriya's front page is an op-ed by its editor-in-chief, Mohamad Ali Ibrahim, entitled "Election philosophers.. and the Egyptian reality." In this piece, Ibrahim argues "democracy is a dangerous responsibility." He says democracies have produced figures like Mussolini and Hitler. Democracies in the Arab World, he continues, have led to instability and foreign, particularly Iranian–as in the cases of Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza–intervention. Ibrahim suggests Egypt's democracy, sovereignty and stability are best protected by NDP authorities.

In the independent Al-Shorouk, a headlines reads "The European Union denies that it praised the election process, and the American security council is disappointed." The independent paper also runs headlines reading "Foreign ministry calls on Washington to avoid speculations in its comments on elections," and "Financial Times: Charade in Cairo."  Another headline in this paper reads "Brotherhood and Al-Wafd prepare a file of electoral violations to submit to the general prosecutor."

Other headlines in the independent paper pertain to the electoral reactions of opposition figures, and authorities from the ruling party. Referencing President of Parliament Ahmad Fathi Surour, a headline reads "Surour: we've become accustomed to the issue of electoral fraud." Former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, is mentioned in a small headline reading "ElBaradei's Brotherhood campaigns: It is time to withdraw before the runoffs." Mustafa Bakri's quotes are paraphrased in a headline that reads "What happened was a debacle, and the opposition must immediately withdraw."

Another small headline in Al-Shorouk reads "Court rules that election results in president's circuit are invalid." The article mentions that an administrative court ruled the elections conducted in the Nasr City/Heliopolis Circuit null and void due to electoral violations. Elections conducted in four other districts of greater Cairo were ruled in the same manner.

Regarding Wikileaks, Al-Akhbar runs the following headline: "Interpol calls for imprisonment of Wikileaks founder" on alleged charges of rape and sexual assault. Al-Ahram headlines with "Wikileaks documents: Israel pressured America to ensure its superiority" and "Washington rejected Netanyahu's threats pertaining to freezing the construction of settlements." Al-Shorouk cites leaked documents from the American Embassy in Doha in headlines that state "Wikileaks reveals documents about Egypt and Qatar" along with "Egyptian diplomats: Nothing new in these documents…No turning back from improved relations with Doha."