CAIRO - Presidential hopeful Ayman Nour revealed that he has prepared to launch legal proceedings against a new election law, devised by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, that has met with the disapproval of almost everybody in Egypt. Nour said the legal committee in his Ghad (Tomorrow) Party will try and get a court ruling to nullify the controversial law. “This law aims to force the electorate to do the impossible,” Nour said. “It's not appropriate for small parties, of which there are many in Egypt,” he was quoted by the Arabic-language daily Youm7 as saying. The Parliamentary Election Law has proved contentious since being issued by the ruling Military Council more than two months ago. Almost all the political powers say that the law, which approves a mixed proportional/first-past-the-post election system, will further weaken the nation's political parties and allow former ruling party members to return to Parliament by running as independents. Nour was not the only political activist to speak out against the law yesterday, as Mohamed ElBaradei, another presidential candidate, also expressed his discontent. In comments on his Twitter page, ElBaradei wrote that the law would usher in a parliament without equal opportunities for everyone. The fear in the nation's political corridors is that the members of the former ruling party could win a lot of seats in the next Parliament, because they have both money and experience. But members of the former ruling National Democratic Party say they should be allowed to run for seats, arguing that this is their right. ElBaradei also wrote on his page that the law would usher in a parliament no different from Mubarak's parliaments. Nour, for his part, said he had presented a draft election law to the Military Council, which totally ignored it. “The next Parliament must reflect the political power map of Egyptian society,” Nour stressed. “It must reflect the change that has happened in Egypt since the revolution.” The Election Law is one of the main motivators for a major protest planned for this Friday in central Cairo's Tahrir Square. Several activists have called on the Army, which is now deployed in the Square to prevent further protests, to withdraw. Some people think this indicates that the Friday protest could witness violence between soldiers and demonstrators.
