FJP ‘Ready’ For Egypt’s Parliamentary Contest: Party Leader

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) is ready to contest Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary polls, FJP Secretary-General Hussein Ibrahim declared Monday.

“The FJP calls for holding elections for members of Egypt’s House of Representatives as soon as possible,” Ibrahim said on his official Facebook page.

Speaking on behalf of his party, he went on to warn against attempts to “circumvent the will of the people.”

The House of Representatives, formally known as the People’s Assembly, is the lower, legislative chamber of Egypt’s parliament.

On Saturday, Egypt’s High Constitutional Court (HCC) declared four articles in a proposed parliamentary elections law to be unconstitutional, along with another nine articles of a proposed law on political rights.

“Who is afraid of strict laws aimed at combating official corruption? Who is afraid of competing at the ballot boxes and is giving political cover to acts of violence and vandalism?” Ibrahim asked in a veiled reference to certain elements of Egypt’s non-Islamist political opposition.

“These are definitely the only ones with an interest in postponing elections,” he added.

Egypt’s second post-revolution parliamentary polls had been scheduled for April, but an administrative court ordered their cancellation in March.

The court attempted to justify the move by asserting that President Mohamed Morsi had ratified a new electoral law without first referring it to the HCC for approval, as is required by Egypt’s new constitution. Elections were thereafter postponed indefinitely.

Before the administrative court ruling, the opposition National Salvation Front umbrella group had announced plans to boycott the vote.

Ahram