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Former MPs to establish shadow parliament
Sun, 12/12/2010 - 11:05
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<p>Mostafa Bakry, Editor of daily <em>al-Osboa</em> (<em>The Week</em>) and unsuccessful MP candidate in Egypt&#39;s recent parliamentary elections during a press conference organized by a group of embittered unsuccessful MP opposition candidates, Democratic Front Party headquarters, Cairo, December 11, 2010. The group has protested against claimed rigging and election results manipulation, calling for protests at High Justice Court and State Council and demanding President Mubarak&#39;s intervention to disband present parliament whose members have been elected in invalid elections based on many court rulings.&nbsp;</p>
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Eighty-six former members of parliament announced plans to establish a shadow parliament as regime supporters threaten to dissolve the body through legal avenues. 

The former MPs vowed to stage a protest on Sunday and a sit-in on Monday, the first day of activity for the new parliamentary session.

During a meeting at Democratic Front Party headquarters on Saturday, Wafd Party and Muslim Brotherhood members, as well as a number of independents, urged President Mubarak to implement court rulings nullifying the elections and dissolving parliament.

Abdel Galil Mostafa, National Association for Change coordinator, in a statement called for high turnout to demonstrations in front of the Supreme Judicial Council on Sunday. The opposition forces also intend to stage a sit-in on Monday before the State Council.

A number of Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc representatives on Saturday held a conference stressing the importance of the public demonstrations.

The Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badei, claimed that electoral transgressions have effectively "banned" the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Opposition forces accuse the NDP of a litany of violations, including fraud and voter intimidation.

The parliament's secretariat received 288 complaints challenging 28 November's first round of elections. The speaker of parliament is legally obligated to refer such complaints to court.

 

Translated from the Arabic Edition.

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