CAIRO - Opponents of Islamists declared a "life and death" battle for Egypt's future as official campaigning began on Wednesday for parliamentary elections seen as vital for restoring stability after eight months of fragile military rule. The winner could gain the first popular mandate in modern Egyptian history after decades of strongman rulers and secure a decisive role in drafting a new constitution - the subject of power struggles between Islamists, liberals and the army. "The armed forces are not a state above the state and will not be," said presidential candidate and former UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei in a statement. "There is a difference between a democratic civilian state that guarantees the rights of man and military tutelage." Officials from both Islamist and liberal parties walked out of a meeting with the government on Tuesday when Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Silmi circulated a document proposing principles for the constitution that would allow the army to defy an elected government. The Muslim Brotherhood, one of Egypt's most influential political groups, demanded Silmi step down and the government resign if it tries to set specific rules for the constitution. "We consider this a usurpation of the right of the people to choose their own constitution," it said in a statement. A plethora of smaller secular liberal and left-wing parties remain to oppose the Muslim Brotherhood, which came late to the uprising against Mubarak and now stands to benefit most from the freedoms it brought. The staggered parliamentary elections are due to begin on Nov. 28 and will last until March, with different dates for different chambers and regions of the country. Some secular parties have put aside major policy differences to join forces against the Islamists under the slogan "Together we will retain our right". "The battle for parliament is a life or death one. It isn't an electoral battle but a battle for Egypt and history," said Basel Adel of the Free Egyptians, a secular party funded partly by Christian business tycoon Naguib Sawiris. Street campaigns by some Islamist parties focus on public morals as the answer to the problems of ordinary Egyptians.
