8 Shura Council Members Resign in Protest at Political Standoff

Eight independent non-Islamist parliamentarians officially resigned from Egypt’s upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, on Monday in protest at the simmering political stand-off in the country.

Speaker of the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, Ahmed Fahmy, is to look at the resignations in a board meeting on Tuesday.

The members include Nadia Henry, Sameh Fawzy, Kamal Soliman, Suzy Adel, Gamil Haleem, Farid El-Bayaad, Magdi El-Maasarawy and Nabil Azmy, according to state-run news agency MENA.

Among the reasons cited by the resigned members are mounting political polarization, continuing deadlock and solidarity with the opposition’s demands.

On Saturday, Shura Council member Nadia Henry announced during a conference convened by the anti-President Morsi ‘Rebel’ campaign the resignations of independent parliamentarians in solidarity with the signature drive.

The resignations were tendered officially on Monday.

In their Monday meeting with Fahmy, resigned members reiterated calls for snap elections to end the current political standoff.

The stepping down coincided with a resignation of four ministers from Prime Minister Hisham Qandil’s beleaguered cabinet.

Millions of Egyptians poured onto the streets across Cairo on Sunday, in numbers some say are greater than those seen during the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Factional street fighting between supporters and opponents of President Morsi since Sunday has left at least 17 dead and 781 injured across the country, adding to simmering rivalries between both camps.

Source: Ahram Online