CAIRO - Egypt's former MPs from opposition parties and the banned Muslim Brotherhood, who have failed to keep their seats in the legislature for the current session, blaming it on election fraud, are mulling setting up a parallel parliament. The People's Assembly (Lower House of the Egyptian Parliament) will hold its first session after the election of its 508 members in a two-round vote, which was swept as predicted by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). "The new Parliament does not represent Egyptians due to the widespread rigging, which ignored the people's will. Therefore, some former MPs are meeting to discuss the measures to take against this," said Mohamed el-Beltagui, a former MP from the Brotherhood. He added that, among the measures to be considered, was an idea to set up a parallel parliament, "comprising a number of former parliamentarians who are thought to be trusted by the people in their constituencies". "Also, some legal measures against rigging and unlawful decisions taken during the parliamentary polls will be discussed," el-Beltagui told The Egyptian Gazette, ahead of a meeting with some former MPs. Gamal Zahran, a former independent MP, pointed out that the parallel parliament would include 100 former parliamentarians from opposition parties and the Brotherhood, whose candidates run as independents to skirt a decades-long ban. "The proposed parliament will get a speaker and two deputies. One of its missions will be to discuss how to confront the electoral rigging which dominated the polls," Zahran said, pointing out that the headquarters of the parallel parliament has yet to be decided. "As soon as the parallel parliament has been formed, it will submit a complaint to the International Parliament, accusing the NDP and its leadership of abolishing political opposition from the People's Assembly," Zahran told this paper. He added that the former parliamentarians also intend to file a lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The NDP clinched control of more than four-fifths of the Parliament, securing 420 of 508 seats as independents garnered 70 seats while the opposition trailed far behind with 14 seats - six going to the liberal Al-Wafd Party and one to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which boycotted the second round of voting on Sunday. A coalition of rights groups which monitored the vote has called for the dissolution of the new Parliament after Egypt's Higher Administrative Court - whose verdicts cannot be appealed - cast doubt on the polling process. Mohamed ElBaradei, the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who returned to Egypt earlier this year, released a video message Wednesday, urging a boycott of the 2011 presidential elections and describing the country's recent parliamentary ballot as "a farce". ElBaradei also has warned the Government there will be violence if the authorities suppress peaceful pro-reform rallies.
