Dostour Party to boycott upcoming parliamentary elections

The liberal Dostour Party will boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, party spokesperson Khaled Dawoud said in a statement published by the Reuters-affiliated Aswat Masreya website, on Saturday.

The party’s decision comes on the heels of demands from Dostour and other secular parties, for an immediate investigation into the death of leftist activist Shaimaa Sabbagh, the sacking of current Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, the revoking of the contentious Protest Law, the release of all political detainees, and the revoking the current Elections Law, which has been criticized for limiting free and fair elections.

“The current political climate does not encourage political parties to engage in public life,” Dawoud stated.

A similar decision was taken by the Popular Socialist Alliance Party, which Shabbagh was a leading member of, last week. The socialist party announced that it would boycott the elections due to the lack of a serious investigation into Sabbagh’s death.

Police forces allegedly shot and killed Sabbagh on the eve of the fourth anniversary of January 25 revolution while she was participating in a small, peaceful march in Talaat Harb. The march was organized to place flowers in Tahrir square in commemoration of the revolutionary martyrs. Her death sparked local and international condemnation.

In early January, the Nasserist-oriented Popular Current Party founded by former presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi, stated it would also withdraw from the parliamentary race. The decision came in protest to the Elections Law and the new distribution of electoral districts, as well as what its statement called “the limitation of public and personal freedoms and the confiscation of public space.”

“The current Elections Law, and the subsequent division of electoral districts, allows for the return of figures from [former President Hosni] Mubarak’s administration and those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood,” the statement concluded.

According to the Popular Current Party the current political atmosphere makes it impossible for parties unaffiliated with the ruling administration to truly participate in political life. The party also protested the lack of what they characterized as a fair electoral process based on providing equal opportunities. The statement also alleged that current circumstances do not allow for active communication with the public without being subjected to harassment or the threat of prosecution under the Protest Law.