CAIRO: Egypt's Higher Administrative Court has overturned a ruling that would have banned affiliates of the formerly ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) from running in upcoming parliamentary elections, due to begin on November 28. On Friday a lower administrative court in the Delta city Mansoura ruled to ban members of the former ruling party from running in the elections, inciting a movement across the country to implement the ban. “The court suspends the ruling to bar six members of the disbanded NDP from running in the polls. They can stand the parliamentary elections,” said Judge Magdi el-Agatti, claiming that it is not the role of the judiciary to bar members of any party from running in elections. “This is the power of the legislative,” el-Agatti said. El-Agatti is the same judge who ruled to dissolve the NDP last April 16. Members of the NDP have stated that a ban would infringe on their political, judicial and human rights. In October, they held a rally demanding to be included in the upcoming elections. The Higher Court ruling may not be appealed, solidifying the inclusion of these politicians in the elections. Dozens of former NDP members have registered to run as individual candidates. Protesters set fire to the party's offices during the January 25 uprisings that ousted Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak last February, citing the dissolution of the party as one of their key revolutionary demands. Members of the formerly ruling party were notorious for their gross rigging of elections through vote buying, intimidation and by playing off of familial and tribal ties. Activists fear that contesting these deeply entrenched politicians, even in post-January 25 Egypt, will be difficult. The long-anticipated parliamentary elections will be the first elections held in Egypt since the fall of Mubarak. They come at a critical time for Egypt's security, economy and stability as a nation. Mubarak, his two sons, and various members of the former regime remain on trial for corruption charges, and for ordering the shooting of peaceful protesters during the uprisings that toppled the former regime. BM
