CAIRO: A board decision by the Lawyers' Syndicate dissolved all affiliate syndicates nationwide, Hamdy Khalifa, syndicate chairman, said. "The term for the boards of the affiliate syndicates officially ended four months ago, however, due to the syndicate's elections it wasn't a suitable time to dissolve them. Now that everything is calm and stable at the syndicate it is time to focus on the affiliates, said Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, also a member of the syndicate's legislative committee. The affiliate syndicates are a model of the general syndicate but within its governorate's border, and functions as a national bar association, explained Abdel Maqsoud. The syndicate will start accepting applications for the affiliates in October and the elections are scheduled for December. For now, the affiliate syndicates will be headed by the general syndicate's committee for primary courts, Khalifa told independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. During the last meeting of the syndicate's board, 28 of 41 board members requested that the affiliate syndicates' board be dissolved. During the past year, the Lawyers' Syndicates was under the spotlight for its board elections. The elections were postponed three times starting October 2008. Last January, Cairo's Administrative Court suspended the election three days before it was scheduled to take place due to a report issued by a judicial committee to scrutinize the registration of lawyers who would vote. When it was finally scheduled for May 23, it was postponed when less than 51 percent of its general assembly showed up. The deal was sealed one week later when Khalifa, who was supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected chairman.
