Egypt’s main leftist party will compete in upcoming parliamentary elections

Egypt’s main leftist party will compete in upcoming parliamentary elections

  Egypt’s main leftist party, Al-Tagammu, announced in a meeting Saturday it will compete in the next People’s Assembly (PA) elections in November.

“Al-Tagammu founding member  and prominent columnist Fathia El-Assal said Sunday “elections are the best opportunity for [political parties] to interact with the public … in a state where democracy is absent.”
 
Al-Tagammu announced it will nominate 74 candidates, including nine women, to compete for the 508 seats of the Lower-House of the Parliament in most constituencies nationwide.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s main opposition group, has earlier announced it will participate in the upcoming elections, and will expose vote-rigging by the ruling regime to the Egyptian public and the whole world. Al-Wafd party, has also announced its participation in the upcoming elections.

 
During a press conference following Saturday’s meeting, Refaat El-Saeid, head of Al-Tagammu, l stressed that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) must abide by the guarantees that the opposition parties had demanded to ensure the integrity of the elections.
El-Saeid further called on the Supreme Press Council to provide all candidates, whether NDP or opposition, with equal opportunities in the media, especially the state-run TV, magazines and newspapers, to campaign.
 
On the other hand, several other opposition parties chose to boycott the upcoming elections in absence of clear commitments by the governments to ensure safeguards against vote-rigging and election fraud, among them are Al-Ghad opposition party, which was the first to boycott the elections earlier last month, and the newly formed National Association for Change (NAC) headed by the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei.