Egyptian bloc pulls out of parliamentary polls

Cairo – An Egyptian alliance of secular and revolutionary groups said Saturday it was pulling out of the parliamentary elections, days ahead of scheduled run-offs, alleging irregularities. 

Nida Misr (Egypt’s Call) made the decision after it failed to win any seat in the first round of the elections held last week in 14 of Egypt’s 24 governorates.

The second and final phase of voting is scheduled for next month in the other 13 governorates.

“Nida Misr ran in the elections despite its limited financial sources,” the coalition’s secretary general, Hesham Anani, told a press conference.

“Our candidates contested the election honestly.”

Anani claimed that rivals, whom he did not name, had illegally used money to court potential voters.

“Our coalition plans to go to court to contest the electoral process in view of the political fraud that occurred,” he said without elaborating.

Nida Misr, set up last year, comprises 17 political parties and young revolutionaries.

The alliance founders said their aim was to fulfil the objectives of both the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime dictator Hosny Mubarak and the army’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi following street protests against him two years later.

Last week, Egypt started voting in its first parliamentary elections since Morsi’s ouster.

For the Love of Egypt, a pro-government coalition of parties and wealthy businessmen, won all 60 seats allocated for party-based lists in the first round.

For the Love of Egypt is widely seen as loyal to President Abdel-Fatah al-Sissi.

The run-offs for 222 seats reserved for independents are set for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The election, which runs into December, is the third and last step in a military-backed transition plan announced after Morsi’s toppling.

The parliament will be Egypt’s first in more than three years. In 2012, the country’s top court dissolved the Islamist-led legislature, saying it had been elected on faulty rules.