CAIRO: Over half the Parliamentary seats facing run-off elections in Egypt on Sunday will see members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) competing against each other. Of the 283 seats so far undecided, 114 are NDP face-offs members and an additional 74 are contested by an NDP member and an independent running under the party's principles. Despite many seats being contested by members of the same party, observers expect violence over Sunday's polls. Some of the most violent clashes during the first round of elections were between members of the NDP, not between the NDP and opposition or independent candidates. The second round could be just as violent in some areas. Only 95 seats could see competition between the NDP and opposition or truly independent candidates. Yet 36 of those seats may not be contested at all: both the Muslim Brotherhood, which should contest 27 seats in the second round of elections, and the Wafd party, which should contest 9, have declared they will not contest the run-off elections after the extreme violations seen during last Sunday's polls. The High Election Commissioner, however, has stated that any withdrawal papers are invalid as they were submitted after the official date to withdraw, essentially refusing to let either group officially withdraw from the election. In the first round of elections, the Wafd party managed to secure two seats while the Brotherhood did not win a single seat. In the previous Parliament, the Waft held 12 seats and the Brotherhood 88. Many expected the Brotherhood to lose its one-fifth bloc of the seats, but few predicted the Brotherhood would lose all representation in Parliament, which seems to be the government's intention. The leftist Tagammu party, which received one seat in the first round of elections, will contest six additional seats today. The party's head has fallen under fire from local party leaders during the last week over his refusal to announce a boycott of the run-off elections. In any event, the NDP stands to win a significant majority at the end of the day. Of the 221 seats won outright last week, 213 went to the NDP. At least 188 will be added to that number during the second round, giving the NDP at least 401 out of the 508 contested seats. There are 518 seats in the Parliament, but 10 of those are appointed by the President, Hosni Mubarak. 64 seats reserved for women were added to the Parliament this year. Last Sunday's elections were marred by widespread reports of violence, fraud, bribery, and other electoral violations. Despite proof and numerous eyewitness accounts of violations, the High Electoral Commission announced that the vote had been fair. On Saturday, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court nullified the election results of both the first and second round of elections in 24 districts where it had already ruled to postpone the elections. “The High Elections Commission's non-implementation of previous rulings nullifies the results,” the Court said in a statement, adding that holding elections anyway made “the composition of the People's Assembly (Parliament) fraught with the suspicion of invalidity.” The Court's decision is mostly symbolic, as Mubarak's government has a history of ignoring judicial decisions it disagrees with. It is unlikely that the Supreme Court's decision will have any real effect on the ground. Even so, “it's another nail in the legitimacy of the parliament,” said Egyptian blogger and activist Mohamed Abdelfattah. Although after such a poorly disguised sham of an election, some wonder if Mubarak is worried about legitimacy at all anymore or is simply preparing the stage for next year's Presidential election. BM
