A deadlock has been reached between political parties and the ruling military council over the upcoming parliamentary elections, informed sources have said. The parties insist on using a list-based electoral system, while the council insists that the voting be 50 percent list-based, with the other 50 percent through a single-winner system. A source has claimed that the authorities deliberately leaked news about a referendum on the the matter when the parties threatened an open-ended sit-in. Also, while several parties have presented proposals for demarcating the electoral constituencies, the Wafd Party refused to do so, contending that such move would be a recognition of the current parliamentary law, which the party rejects. Mohamed Abul Ghar, president of the Egypt's Democratic Party, said constituencies should be defined on a proper geographical basis. Presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei said he supports the list-based system for the elections. Translated from the Arabic Edition
