Parliament passes electoral reform bill
AP
Cairo: Parliament passed a constitution amendment yesterday that enables Egypt to hold its first multi-candidate elections for president. Outside the assembly, opposition supporters protested the reform as inadequate to ensure this year's election would be free and fair.
"The amendment is dubious, and will serve the father and his son," about 200 protesters chanted, referring to widespread expectations that either President Hosni Mubarak or his son Jamal, 40, will stand in the September polls.
The 454-member parliament later approved the amendment unanimously, the semi-official Middle East News Agency reported.
The move enables Egypt to hold its first election for president with more than one candidate since the military overthrew the monarchy in 1952. Until now Egypt has held presidential referendums in which people voted "yes" or "no" for a single candidate approved by parliament.
The parliament's legislative committee will now work out the rules for nominating presidential candidates and supervising the election, legislator Ahmad Abou Zeid said.
Meanwhile, the first edition of the newspaper of the opposition Ghad Party appeared yesterday one day late after the Egyptian authorities dropped a demand for changes in the text, a newspaper executive said. The senior newspaper executive, who asked not to be named, said.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=155450
AP
Cairo: Parliament passed a constitution amendment yesterday that enables Egypt to hold its first multi-candidate elections for president. Outside the assembly, opposition supporters protested the reform as inadequate to ensure this year's election would be free and fair.
"The amendment is dubious, and will serve the father and his son," about 200 protesters chanted, referring to widespread expectations that either President Hosni Mubarak or his son Jamal, 40, will stand in the September polls.
The 454-member parliament later approved the amendment unanimously, the semi-official Middle East News Agency reported.
The move enables Egypt to hold its first election for president with more than one candidate since the military overthrew the monarchy in 1952. Until now Egypt has held presidential referendums in which people voted "yes" or "no" for a single candidate approved by parliament.
The parliament's legislative committee will now work out the rules for nominating presidential candidates and supervising the election, legislator Ahmad Abou Zeid said.
Meanwhile, the first edition of the newspaper of the opposition Ghad Party appeared yesterday one day late after the Egyptian authorities dropped a demand for changes in the text, a newspaper executive said. The senior newspaper executive, who asked not to be named, said.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=155450
