An Egyptian court on Thursday issued a decision that will effectively bring elections for the Journalists Syndicate to a halt. The elections were scheduled for Friday, but judicial sources told state news agency MENA that the State Council's Administrative Court has stopped receiving candidate applications. Khaled al-Atfy, a nominee for the syndicate's board, pressed the case to halt election applications, saying that Salah Abdel Maqsoud, the acting syndicate chief, called for the vote in violation of syndicate regulations, which stipulate that elections should be proposed by an elected syndicate chief, not an acting one. The syndicate's general assembly decided to hold the elections after a meeting in September. Independent daily Youm7's website quoted the syndicate's legal adviser, Sayyed Abu Zeid, as saying the syndicate will appeal the verdict. Abu Zeid said the syndicate possesses documents proving that the decision to hold the elections was adopted unanimously by the syndicate's board, and not only Abdel Maqsoud as stated in the ruling. It remains unclear, however, whether the syndicate will hold its elections before the court rules on the appeal. Translated from the Arabic Edition
