CAIRO: Various candidates running in Egypt's upcoming parliamentary elections, slated to begin on November 28, have debated suspending their campaigns after a police offensive on protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square left nearly 1,000 wounded and one man dead. The clashes began when police attempted to forcibly remove demonstrators from Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, where they were encamped to protest against Egypt's interim ruling military government, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for their slow pace of reform, and continued use of state brutality, intimidation, and control. The violence has increased popular unease about next week's elections, as some speculate whether parliamentary elections can be held freely and fairly in light of this state offensive. Unease over elections, with its ambiguous timeline and perplexing procedures, had already existed in the nation, especially after an Egyptian Higher Court decreed that members of the nation's formerly ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) would be allowed to run in the elections. This move raised fears that corruption rooted in the former regime will carry over into the nation's next parliamentary body. Anger over elections and power transfer in Egypt intensified last week when the SCAF proposed constitutional legislation that would allow them to pick 80 of the 100 members of the upcoming Parliament's Constitutional Committee, set to draft the nation's first post-revolution constitution. The move would vastly diminish the power of the parliament. The SCAF also granted themselves the right to veto any proposed constitutional article before it reaches a national referendum vote, fanning fears that the SCAF intends on maintaining a hold on power in the nation even after elections. The proposed legislation also left the military and its budget permanently out of the grasp of civilian oversight. According to the SCAF, they will transfer power to a civilian-led government after presidential elections take place. However, the timeframe for presidential elections remains undetermined, with the SCAF wielding absolute power over the decision. The protests downtown have blazed into Sunday afternoon, as Egyptians continue to take to the square by the thousand, calling for the fall of the military government and its interim leader Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi. Solidarity protests erupted through the day on Saturday in cities across Egypt, leaving one activist, Bahaa El-Snousy, dead in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. El-Snousy was a leading member of the Alexandria chapter of the Egyptian Current Party, a group of revolutionary youth with Islamist leanings. BM
