CAIRO: The Egyptain quartet of Coalition opposition political parties – Al -Wafd, Al-Nasseri , Al-Tagama'a and the Democratic Front – agreed on the need to invite the People's Assembly to convene in November to avoid a “constitutional impasse” on Article 101, which stipulates that the first session of parliament would be held on November 2, while elections will prevent that from occurring. The coalition called on President Hosni Mubarak to demand a meeting of the council in accordance with his constitutional powers to reform what the coalition called “constitutional defects.” Refat el-Saeed, the head of al-Tagama'a, said at a press conference after a meeting of coalition parties at the party headquarters held last week and attended by Sayyed Badawi, the leader of al-Wafd, Sameh Ashour, the first Vice-President of al-Nasseri and Margaret Azer, Secretary General of the Democratic Front, that the coalition “will continue to discuss the guarantees of the integrity of the elections,” stressing the need for a comparative list election to represent the largest number of parties within the parliament. He added, “this is a basic guarantee of a real election with a complete legitimacy,” pointing out that such an assurance laid the foundation for serious competitive presidential elections. Saeed noted that the coalition assigned the secretaries of the four parties to develop a plan for political work after Ramadan that includes “the holding of rallies and organizing demonstrations and protests to pressure the regime to respond to the guarantees of a fair election.” He said that the coalition is still studying constitutional ways to present the document of guarantees of a fair election to the president in a legal form. Al-Saeed stressed that the coalition would not expand its membership by inviting more political forces to join it, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and protest movements such as Kefaya or 6th of April. BM
