CAIRO: The judicial committee supervising the Lawyers' Syndicate elections has postponed the elections from Oct. 10 to Nov. 14, giving candidates an extra month and four days to promote their campaigns. According to Refaat El-Saeed, head of the judicial committee, the elections were postponed as a result of complaints by candidates who saw it difficult to campaign during Ramadan. Ragaey Atteya, who is running for the chairman's position, told Daily News Egypt that the postponement of the elections is very important for the campaigning as it gives them time to communicate with lawyers all over Egypt. Atteya stressed the need for the judicial monitoring of the elections to avoid vote-rigging and forgery which, according to him, is very probable. Controversial MP Talaat El-Sadat, who is also running for chairman, told Daily News Egypt that his relationship with lawyers is not limited to election time. "That is why before knowing that it was postponed, we announced that we will meet with lawyers in all the governorates and we will proceed with our plans regardless. Sadat added that the delay will hardly have an effect on his campaign because it is not an ordinary one. "It's an attempt to demonstrate the changes we can introduce to improve the current state of the Syndicate, he said. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud on the other hand disapproves of the postponement. He told Daily News Egypt that this indicates that the government is interfering in the elections. "They said that 20 candidates had pushed for the postponement but what about the other 460 candidates? Why didn't they hear their opinions? Our fear is that after we do our best in the campaign, they will postpone again, he said. Incumbent Syndicate Head Sameh Ashour, who is running for a third term, could not be reached for comment despite numerous attempts to contact him.
