EGYPT: Opposition calls for boycott of ”absurd” poll

A coalition of Egyptian opposition groups have called for an election boycott, calling the vote an “absurdity bordering on madness” after all serious candidates were either arrested or subjected to a campaign of intimidation. In a joint statement, eight Egyptian opposition parties and 150 pro-democracy public figures urged Egyptians to stay away from the March […]

A coalition of Egyptian opposition groups have called for an election boycott, calling the vote an “absurdity bordering on madness” after all serious candidates were either arrested or subjected to a campaign of intimidation.

In a joint statement, eight Egyptian opposition parties and 150 pro-democracy public figures urged Egyptians to stay away from the March polls in protest, accusing the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of preventing “any fair competition”.

“It is not right for us to surrender to what has become an absurdity bordering on madness,” said Abdel-Geleel Mustafa, a veteran opposition figure, at a news conference in Cairo.

Hamdeen Sabahi, Sisi’s only rival in the 2014 presidential elections, launched the campaign under the slogan, “Stay at home.”

He called on political parties to unite against what he called Sisi’s “brutal tyranny of power”.