CAIRO: In an early sign of protest, the Kefaya Movement for Change launched a campaign calling for the boycott of parliamentary elections that are due to be held next year as well as the 2011 presidential elections. During Friday's coordination committee meeting, members of the movement agreed to file a lawsuit to the Administrative Court of the State Council calling for the halt of the upcoming parliamentary elections. In addition, the movement will demand the persecution of government officials who are allegedly accused of fraud during past elections and the referendum on constitutional changes. "We will start channeling the call for boycott to reach all political players including the Muslim Brotherhood, independent MPs and general public figures, general coordinator of Kefaya Abdel Halim Qandil told Daily News Egypt, adding that amid current political upheavals Kefaya has no hope in fair elections. Qandil did not rule out consulting international courts in case his approach to national courts ends to no avail. "We started compiling a file that includes reports published by both local and international rights groups - which report fraud - regarding the past parliamentary and presidential elections. The file also includes administrative court rulings that ordered the shut-down of certain voting centers as well as the cassation court rulings - the highest in Egypt - that pronounced rigged results in almost 70 voting centers. The file will be presented to court when filing lawsuits. "If we do not receive court orders to halt the election process, or if we receive an order by which the government refuses to abide, we will have no other choice but to seek international courts, said Qandil. Meanwhile, a legal committee within the Kefaya movement is preparing a report featuring all government personnel that are allegedly embroiled in the fraud that took place during past elections and the referendum that followed. The anti-election campaign will take place at the same time as Kefaya's "Egyptian Coalition for Change, which calls for the formation of a transitional government tasked with implementing political reform and creating a committee to draft a new constitution, added Qandil. Qandil regards any participation in elections as "siding with current government, betraying the people and taking part in the continuous deterioration of the current political system. Meanwhile, secretary general of leftist opposition party Al-Tagammu Sayed Abdel Al said, "Whether or not we will take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections will be finalized in a central committee meeting to be held at the beginning of next month, adding that the decision will be then discussed in a joint meeting between the main four opposition parties: Tagammu, Al-Wafd, Al-Nassery and the Democratic Front in order to reach a unified decision that represents all parties. On the other hand, Hamdy Hassan, head of the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc, said: "The Muslim Brotherhood has a strategic stance of participating in all elections. Similarly, according to secretary general of Al-Wafd Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, boycotting elections "is a sign of negativity. "The decision to take part or boycott the elections is a decision that involves the entire party which hasn't been determined yet. Plus, Al-Wafd is committed to a unified decision to be reached by the group of main opposition parties, he told Daily News Egypt.
