CAIRO: About two dozen activists protested Friday morning outside Al-Wafd opposition party headquarters in Giza, as a general assembly meeting was held inside to decide whether the party will join the race for the coming People's Assembly elections or not. The protesters, mainly young people, called on the party to reach a unanimous decision to boycott the Lower-House of the Parliament's polls due in November. Some protesters held the Egyptian flag, while others carried banners on which they wrote slogans like: “We will not take part in the rigged [elections]” and “Boycotting is a national duty,” while shouting the same statements. “Even though I do not belong to any political group, I came here to [urge] Al-Wafd not to compete in the elections [as its absence] will show the illegitimacy of ruling National Democratic Party (NDP),” Ahmed El-Damsheety told Daily News Egypt. Another protester from the National Association for Change (NAC) believes that Friday's protest delivers a special message to El-Wafd. Former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has spearheaded a call for boycotting the elections through the NAC, which on Aug. 30, urged political parties and citizens not to participate in the elections. “Since the government did not approve the seven demands of change, we must boycott the elections,” Hamed El-Sabahy noted. These demands include an end to the emergency law, judicial oversight and independent monitoring of elections and a two-term limit on the presidency. “I call on Al-Wafd to follow the other opposition groups and parties and boycott the elections. We all know that the poll is nothing but a mess,” Nahla Hegazy noted. Earlier last week El-Ghad opposition party decided to boycott the elections, though party head Ayman Nour did not rule out the possibility of members running as independent. “But in this case, they will not be supported by the party,” Nour previously told Daily News Egypt.
