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Egypt opposition party to abandon seats won in vote
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Egypt opposition party to abandon seats won in vote
Reuters - Friday, December 3
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By Alexander Dziadosz and Yasmine Saleh
CAIRO - Egypt's second biggest opposition bloc said Thursday it would refuse to take up the two seats it won in a parliamentary election it said was faked, in addition to refusing to take part in a second round.
The liberal Wafd party and Egypt's biggest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, said Wednesday they were quitting the parliament race before run-offs scheduled for December 5.
The two parties, which lost heavily in Sunday's vote, have said the poll was discredited by vote manipulation, thuggery and other tricks.
The United States, Egypt's ally and a major aid donor, criticised the poll's conduct. Independent Egyptian monitors cited widespread abuse. Officials said voting was fair.
Mubarak's party has swept to routine victories for decades and is guaranteed a landslide once run-offs are held.
But analysts said the blatant manner of abuses cited by monitors and others had prompted a rare show of political decisiveness by Wafd, a decades-old party that has often dithered between the government and opposition camps.
"This time, it was more hideous and on a larger scale than in any other election ... has given the opposition the biggest present it can hope for," said opposition campaigner Hassan Nafaa, saying he hoped it would drive the opposition towards a more unified call for political change.
Anti-government street protests rarely gather more than a few hundred people in Egypt, where security is swift to quash dissent. Despite efforts to draw opposition groups into coalitions, campaigns have usually disintegrated amid bickering.
CHALLENGE
Analysts said the government wanted to crush its Islamist and other critics before a 2011 presidential vote. Officials have indicated Mubarak, 82, will run if he can, but his health has been under scrutiny since gallbladder surgery in March.
Rules governing that vote make it almost impossible for a realistic challenge to the ruling party's nomination. But analysts said the state wants to avoid public shows of dissent.
"The presidential election is probably the key marker at the moment and this is an effort to sideline the Brotherhood in preparation for that election and that may well be because of the huge uncertainty about what Mubarak will do," said David Hartwell, IHS Jane's North Africa and Middle East analyst.
Wafd, which controlled 12 seats in the last parliament, won just two in the first round vote on November 28 and had been set to contest nine seats in run-offs before it withdrew.
"We are not participating in the run-off and the two candidates that have won will have to leave the party and become independent if they wish to continue in the parliament," Wafik El-Ghetany, who heads Wafd's election operation, told Reuters.
The group has said the vote was "scandalous."
Reflecting divisions in the Wafd party, a group of about 40 members gathered to oppose the boycott outside the party office where Wafd leaders were explaining their reason for quitting. "No to boycotting the vote. We will continue," they chanted.
After the party's decision, three of its candidates announced they would participate in the run-off, but as independents rather than under the party banner, saying their main concern was their voters, state news agency MENA reported.
"Those who voted for me in the first round came to my offices pleading I do not withdraw," Atef El Ashmawy said, describing Wafd's decision to boycott the run-off as "wrong."
"Parties were created to participate in political life. It is our role to highlight violations but to move on in serving our constituencies," he said.
The Brotherhood previously had 88 seats in parliament, equivalent to a fifth, but won none in Sunday's first round. It had 26 candidates in run-offs but will not contest them.
The Islamist group runs candidates as independents because of a constitutional ban on the formation of religious parties.
The ruling party has dismissed criticism of the poll and said the Brotherhood had lost the confidence of voters.
The new parliament will have 518 seats, with 508 elected and 10 more appointed by the president. The outgoing assembly had 454 seats. Extra seats reserved for women were added this time.
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