CAIRO: MP Mostafa Bakry has gone on a hunger strike inside the People's Assembly (PA) to protest against a draft law proposing a division of electoral constituencies, Bakry's brother, Mahmoud, told Daily News Egypt Monday. Bakri began the strike Sunday morning, after the PA's legislative committee approved the new law, he added. Based on the new law, Bakry's constituency number 25 in Helwan governorate will be merged with another represented by MP Sayed Meshaal, also the Minister of State for Military Production. “I was seven minutes late for the session only to find the law had already been passed,” Bakry told Independent Mehwar Satellite TV Channel's “90 Minutes” evening show. The law is likely to compromise Bakry's potential to win a seat in the coming round of legislative election slated for October. “Suddenly I found that the constituency I represent does not exist anymore,” he said. Residents of Bakry's constituency held several protests in the past few days, denouncing the decision. His brother told Daily News Egypt that Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour attempted to convince him to end the strike but he apologized and refused. Bakry could not be reached for comment until press time. Bakry accused ruling National Democratic Party MP and businessman Ahmed Ezz of orchestrating the decision. Al-Osbou independent newspaper had earlier accused Ezz of plotting against Bakry after the latter won the title of the most positive MP in a survey conducted in 2009 by the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC). Ezz, on the other hand, took the title of the most negative MP in a similar survey. Bakry has frequently criticized Ezz for his monopoly over the steel sector, exposing facts about his acquisition of El-Dekheila Steel company, both in Parliament and in the newspaper he edits. In his editorial published Monday, Bakry, executive editor-in-chief and chairman of the board of Al-Osbou, described Ezz as “a phenomenon worth studying and contemplating.” “All of a sudden and within a few years, the man … dominated the political scene in the country,” Bakry wrote. According to Bakry, Ezz's fortune unreasonably jumped 300 fold within 10 years. “Don't ask me how, when or why? The case surpasses our queries. And words are unable to provide satisfying answers of question marks raised on the Egyptian street,” Bakry added.
