CAIRO: Members of Al Tagammu Party condemned the party's decision to participate in the run-off parliamentary elections, and have called for the resignation of Al Tagammu Party Leader Refaat Al Saied. Al Tagammu Party members from 15 governorates held a sit-in at the party's headquarters on Saturday from 10 am to 11 pm in protest of the party's planned participation in the run-off elections slated for Sunday. “We were against contesting the elections from the very beginning without having any guarantees for its integrity and transparency,” Mohamed Saleh, a member of Al Tagammu Party, told Daily News Egypt. “We refuse to be pawns in the hands of the government.” Despite the outcry from various Al Tagammu Party members, the party's leadership has ignored their pleas, insisting that the party will participate in the run-off elections despite having won only one seat in the preliminary parliamentary elections that took place last Sunday. The run-offs elections were slated to include 377 National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates, 140 independents, and six candidates of Al Tagammu. “But after the rigging and harassment that went on in [the first round of the] elections, the least we could do is withdraw from the run-off elections [along with] the [Muslim] Brotherhood and Al-Wafd parties,” Al Tagammu Party member Talaat Fahmy told Daily News Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Wafd parties both withdrew from the run-off elections last week due to accusations of flagrant elections violations and vote rigging. “Al Tagammu Party took an individual decision that will negatively affect the party … its status among the opposition, and the people,” said Fahmy. “The voters, and even the candidates, couldn't play any role in these elections,” Fahmy added. “The thugs are the ones who took over the elections in favor of the NDP.” The opposing wing within Al Tagammu Party called for the party's Central Committee to convene and to evaluate Al Saied's performance as party leader in an effort to pressure his resignation. “We've had many [conflicts] with the party's leadership, who don't follow the party's policy and orientation,” Saleh stated. Fathia El Assal, a prominent member of Al Tagammu Party, disagreed. “Al Saied is against the rigging that took place in the elections,” El Assal told Daily News Egypt. “[Various Al-Tagammu members] keep blaming him for everything which is not true. “Withdrawing in the middle of the elections is a sign of weakness, not strength,” El Assal added. “When you take part in a battle, you should fight until the end of it. The reason that Al-Wafd and the Brotherhood withdrew could be [that] they barely won any seats.” “Our participation in these elections is what exposed [the NDP's election] rigging … [Al Tagammu wants] to participate in the People's Assembly — even with a small number of candidates — so that any legislation won't be approved without Al Tagammu voicing its opinion of it,” Al Saied previously told Daily News Egypt.
