The war of attrition between the ruling military council and Islamist political forces in parliament focussed this week on the Presidential Elections Commission, Gamal Essam El-Din reports The commission in charge of overseeing Egypt's first post-25 January Revolution multi-candidate presidential elections has decided to suspend its activities until next Saturday. However, the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) indicated that the suspension would not affect the timeline of Egypt's landmark elections, scheduled for 23-24 May. On Monday night, PEC said it had been taken aback by a new round of "insults" directed at its members by the Islamist-oriented parliament. PEC Secretary-General Hossam Bagato said, "this is not the first time that MPs have directed insults at the commission, which is composed of five high-ranking judges." "The commission decided to suspend its work after being informed that some members of the People's Assembly had gone too far in criticising it," Bagato said, adding that "we are waiting to see what the [ruling] Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [SCAF] will do before we decide to resume our job." A meeting of the commission was planned for 8 May with presidential candidates and media figures if "favourable conditions for the meeting" were in place. However, the meeting was cancelled, and it is now expected to be held Saturday. A PEC statement said: "It is clear that some are doing their best to stir up strife and complicate the situation ahead of the elections, and in this unhealthy climate it is by no means possible for PEC to carry out its activities in a way that can achieve the aspirations of most Egyptians for a better future." The statement urged SCAF to play its role as arbiter among different state authorities "in order to help the commission resume its activities and complete the procedures necessary for organising presidential elections on time." The PEC statement said that while the Islamist dominated parliament had been discussing amendments to the law regulating presidential elections, some MPs had directed insults at the commission and had even issued threats against its members, raising doubts about whether the judges that compose PEC could be trusted to oversee the elections. "In fact, we exercised restraint towards those who alleged that they had been negatively affected by PEC's rulings, but we cannot accept threats against PEC at this critical time," the commission statement said. "While Egypt's judges did not ask to play this role, they were keen to oversee the elections process when asked to do the job." Parliament agreed Monday on the need to amend the presidential elections law amidst criticism from a number of MPs of Article 28 of the law. This article, which has also been heavily criticised by activists, grants immunity to the commission from appeals against its decisions. A second parliamentary challenge came when the Administrative Court in Cairo overturned PEC's decision to allow Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, back into the presidential race. Salafi MP Mamdouh Ismail slammed Article 28 of the presidential elections law in comments made in parliament, while MP Mohamed Mounib demanded that the law be referred to the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) to judge on whether it is constitutional. Meanwhile, Basel Adel, MP for the liberal Free Egyptians Party, underlined the importance of holding anyone who violates the two-day ban on campaigning just before the poll to account. According to the law, candidates must end their campaigns 48 hours before voting begins. Ismail said the amendments to the law introduced by parliament were necessary in order to clip the wings of the PEC. "They enjoy almost godly powers at the moment, and this can not be accepted," Ismail said, adding that, "Article 28 of the Constitutional Declaration issued last year gave this commission immunity against any appeal." Ismail said that Farouk Sultan, chair of PEC and of the SCC, was tainted by a record of rigging elections. "This happened in 2009 when he was in charge of overseeing elections at the Bar Association," Ismail claimed. Sobhi Saleh, a Muslim Brotherhood MP and deputy chair of parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, proposed that amendments to the presidential elections law stipulate that the five members of PEC be prohibited from occupying any political position or from being appointed to parliament. "Members of PEC must be aware that their rulings will not be rewarded by political privileges, either now or later," he said. The proposal was endorsed by parliament. On Monday night, parliament endorsed significant amendments to the 2005 presidential elections law, including an amendment that stipulates that candidates receive copies of the results of the voting in all polling stations in order to thwart any attempts at rigging and to ensure that they do not differ from the official results announced by PEC. The Islamist-inspired amendments also stated that candidates found guilty of breaching campaigning rules should be fined rather than face imprisonment, the fine ranging from a minimum of LE20,000 to a maximum of LE200,000. This amendment was introduced to save Mohamed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, from facing imprisonment after PEC accused him and two other candidates, Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh and secularist Amr Moussa, of breaching campaigning rules. In their comments on PEC's decision to suspend its activities, Saleh denied that MPs had directed insults at the commission. "What MPs said was aired live on television, and we are sure that no one directed insults at PEC," he said, arguing that the amendments to the law had been motivated by the need to ensure that Egypt's first post-revolutionary presidential elections were marked by integrity and transparency. "The amendments will be reviewed by the SCC before they are referred to SCAF for final endorsement," he said. "If they are rejected by the SCC, parliament will accept the decision." In a counter-attack against PEC, parliament speaker Saad El-Katatni argued that, "It is PEC's statement that is an insult to parliament." "We do not want anyone to comment on our performance so long as they do not allow others to comment on their performance," El-Katatni said. Many see the tough reaction of El-Katatni, former secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, as inspired by the current war of attrition between the Brotherhood and SCAF. Criticism of PEC mounted, mainly from Islamists, after it barred populist Salafi preacher Hazem Abu Ismail and Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader and business tycoon Khairat El-Shater from standing in the presidential elections. The present crisis is but the latest amid mounting turmoil in Egypt in the run-up to the presidential vote. Last week, 11 people, including an army soldier, were killed and hundreds injured in violence near the Ministry of Defence in Abbasiya. Anti-military protesters demanding that PEC be dissolved for alleged bias had camped near the ministry before being attacked by unidentified thugs and later clashing with army troops. The opposition has accused the military, ruling Egypt since Mubarak's ouster, of having orchestrated the violence with the intention of delaying the presidential vote and prolonging its stay in power.
