Popular Current withdraws from parliamentary elections

The Popular Current issued a statement on Tuesday announcing that the party would not participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The decision came in objection to the Elections Law and the new distribution of electoral districts, as well as what the 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 continued.

The current atmosphere doesn’t allow parties unaffiliated with the ruling administration to truly participate in political life, the party claimed. There is also the marked absence of a fair electoral process based on providing equal opportunities, nor do current circumstances allow for active communication with the public without being subjected to harassment or the threat of prosecution under the Protest Law, the statement added.

Popular Current spokesperson Ahmed Kamel al-Behiry told Mada Masr that both his party and the Democratic Alliance for Civil Forces have voiced vehement objections to the Elections Law since it was passed. The Popular Current filed a report with the president’s office including their critique of the law and recommendations to amend it, Beheiry said, but they have not yet received a response.

A delegation that includes leaders from the Democratic Alliance for Civil Forces also met with Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and filed a memorandum detailing their criticism of the law and an alternative bill. Mehleb promised to look at the suggestions, but there was never any follow-through, Behiry claimed.

The alliance had suggested redistributing Parliament seats to include 40 percent from electoral lists, 40 percent among individual candidates and 20 percent from minority sectors deserving of positive discrimination, instead of the current distribution of 120 seats from lists and 460 for individual candidates.

The Popular Current also criticized the distribution of electoral districts assigned to lists.

“For instance, it’s unreasonable for one electoral district to extend from south of Giza to include all Upper Egyptian governorates,” Behiry explained.

“We demanded that electoral districts assigned to lists be redistributed into one district for each governorate, and to have a unified list across the country to allow parties to campaign for their candidates, even if the number of seats assigned to lists was increased,” Behiry said. “We were flexible in our proposal, and we provided a spectrum of possibilities to create a better chance for consensus, but none of them were considered. No one even responded to our suggestions.”

The Popular Current believes that the upcoming elections will be controlled by political money, partnerships and tribal relations, Behiry argued. The party delayed making a decision on whether or not to pull out of the race until a meeting was held with heads of the Democratic Alliance for Civil Forces, which includes the Dostour, Karama and Popular Socialist Alliance parties. 

The statement clarified that though the party will not participate in the elections, it is still an active member of the Democratic Alliance for Civil Forces, which Behiry described as a political alliance and not just an electoral one. The statement added that the current is committed to continue working with the Democratic Alliance to unify the efforts of revolutionary fronts. 

“The decision doesn’t mean abandoning political and national support for the alliance’s candidates in the upcoming elections, or any candidates affiliated with the January 25 and June 30 revolutions for that matter, against figures from Mubarak regime’s and members of the Brotherhood,” the statement added. Moreover, the Popular Current left the door open for its members to run for the elections as individual candidates. 

Dostour Party spokesperson Khaled Dawoud announced on Monday that the party would make its final decision regarding participation in the parliamentary elections on Saturday, when the party’s supreme body would meet with representatives from commissions across the country.  

A source in the party who requested to remain anonymous told Mada Masr that young members were leaning toward boycotting the elections, but the decision was still being discussed by different party secretariats.

Young members’ growing propensity to boycotting the elections comes in response to continuing arrest campaigns and  restrictions on public freedoms, as well as the faulty Elections Law which renders participation in the elections pointless, the source argued.

“After all the things we witnessed, we don’t trust the current regime to organize fair elections,” he added.

During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mehleb announced that the government has finished all legal and logistical preparations related to parliamentary elections, and that they were waiting for the Supreme Elections Committee’s decision to call for elections.