CAIRO - The Higher Electoral Commission Sunday urged media outlets to be more balanced while reporting the upcoming polls as the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) fielded 508 hopefuls, including 64 women for the women-only seats at the last moment for registration. The turnout Sunday was very high as more than one thousand candidates registered at the security departments nationwide to run for the polls scheduled for November 28. "The final lists of candidates will be announced within two days as round 5,000 submitted applications to participate in the vote," the commission said in a statement Sunday. It added that appeals against candidates could be filed to the commission as of November 10. The commission, meanwhile, urged media outlets to offer balanced, unbiased and objective reporting of the elections, which are contested by the ruling party and three other big parties as well as the banned Muslim Brotherhood. "The Egyptian media is asked to help hold the elections in a proper environment in which the citizen's interests are the dominant aspect," the statement read. The NDP submitted the files of its 508 hopefuls Sunday at 4:30CLT just half an hour before the registration door was closed to avoid any rift from its members who were not selected to run. "However, across the nation more than 100 dissidents from the party managed to register for the vote. They run as independent hopefuls," an official at the NDP said Sunday. He added that the party would not care for those dissidents. "Simply, the party has selected the best candidates and those having high popularity through a transparent process," the official told The Gazette on condition of anonymity. According to the figures announced daily by the electoral commission and followed up by The Gazette, the Brotherhood, who candidates run as independent, fielded 170 candidates. Al-Wafd Party fielded 140 for the elections.
