CAIRO (Updated) - President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday re-affirmed that parliamentary elections later this month will be free and fair, a day after rights groups reported restrictions on the opposition and media. "I will reaffirm that I anticipate, and the party anticipates, that the elections will be free and have integrity under the supervision of the Higher Electoral Commission and the monitoring of Egyptian civil society," Mubarak told a conference of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Foreign observers are officially not allowed to monitor the voting process despite calls for this. Mubarak said his party would work for the country's poor who have not yet felt the benefits of the Government's economic reforms. It was Mubarak's first public pledge to ensure fair voting since the date for the elections, November 28, was announced last month. "There may be many views and tendencies, but all the sons of Egyptian people look forward to a noble, better life," he said. In his speech, Mubarak did not hint at whether he will run again in the next presidential election, scheduled for late 2011. "The NDP selected its candidates for the polls through an unprecedented, organised process," Mubarak said. He added that the slogan of the party during the upcoming elections will be: "For the Sake of Your Children's Future". In an apparent bid to soothe the ruling party's members who are excluded from running in the November 28 polls, Mubarak said they would have a chance in the future. Analysts say violence may mar the parliamentary vote. More than a dozen people were killed in the last elections in 2005, which left the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in control of a fifth of the Parliament. The Islamist group, which registers its candidates as independents, has fielded 134 candidates for the imminent elections. The Brotherhood says the election committee has already rejected four of its candidates, including the deputy leader of its parliamentary bloc. According to Egypt's Higher Electoral Commission, 5,720 candidates submitted applications for running in the vote. "We know that the elections will witness heated compeitition. However, the NDP is ready for this," Mubarak said. In response, el-Sayed el-Badawi, the chief of the Al-Wafd opposition newspaper, said Wednesday that Mubarak's pledge that the elections would be fair and free was the biggest guarantee for the process. "President Mubarak's pledge of fair elections guarantees the process as all procedures to the moment herald that the elections are going on the night track," el-Badawi said in a televised programme to be aired Thursday. Meanwhile, Moqbel Shaker, the Deputy Secretary General of the State-backed National Council of Human Rights, said Wednesday around 7,000 members of civil society organisations had filed requests to observe the elections. "We are examining the requests," Shaker said. The ruling party is widely expected to dominate the elections, which for the first time will include 64 parliamentary seats reserved for women candidates.
