Opposition Unites on Sunday Calling to Nullify Parliament

Opposition Unites on Sunday Calling to Nullify Parliament

“Void” is the slogan that has been adopted and will be raised on banners in Cairo on Sunday December 12, by 15 opposition groups and parties from all walks and trends. Ideological differences will be set aside as opposition factions unite and join forces outside the High Court of Justice, Downtown to protest the illegitimacy of Egypt’s 2010 elected People’s Assembly.

The protest is scheduled to be held one day before the first session of the new People’s Assembly (PA), in which MPs will take their service oaths.

George Isaac, a senior member of the newly founded National Association for change and co-founder of Kefaya movement, maintained that the protest aims to prove that all opposition groups can constitute one power under one slogan. He added that the null and void parliament did not in any way represent the Egyptian people

Sunday’s protest will be the first in a series of strategies in which Al-Wafd and the Arab Nasserist parties join forces against the new PA as parties, and not individuals.
According to Ayman Nour, president of the Ghad party, the protest is symbolic of the opposition’s stance regarding what he and other factions described as an ‘illicit party’ and against violations committed during the elections.

The fraudulent elections resulted in a 98% sweeping victory in favour of the ruling NDP amid a host of violations committed by the authorities. This constitutes a majority which will enable the regime to tighten its grip on a tame chamber to guarantee an easy transition of power in the presidential bid slated for 2011.

Violations recorded during the elections in both rounds included ballot box stuffing, vote rigging and denying representatives of independent candidates and opposition parties entry into polling stations even though they had notarized permits. Breaches were also made during campaigning and when applications for nominations were being handed in, where the opposition, mainly the Muslim Brotherhood, faced arbitrary arrests and unjust detentions.

Both the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Wafd party boycotted the second round of the polls after the electoral process proved to be anything but satisfying with zero outright wins among MB candidates and only a few for the Wafd Party.