Top News: Political Parties Threaten to Boycott Elections

 The Socialist Popular Alliance Party decided to suspend participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, until five “urgent” demands are met. These demands include the dismissal of Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, the rebuilding and restructuring of the police forces, the modification of the protest law, the release of all political prisoners, and guarantees that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be free and fair.

POLITICS

HEC to accept applications for Egypt parliament candidacy starting February 8
The Higher Committee for Parliamentary Elections (HEC) announced it will accept parliamentary candidates’ applications starting February 8. In its announcement today, the HEC said the electoral campaigning period for the first phase would begin on February 26 and end on March 20, with the second phase occurring between April 3 and 24. Meanwhile, the HEC issued a decree regulating the distribution of logos to candidates running in the individual candidate system or in party lists. [Ahram Online, Egypt Independent, Aswat Masriya, DNE, Shorouk (Arabic), 1/29/2015]

Political parties threaten to boycott elections
The Socialist Popular Alliance Party decided to suspend participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections, until five “urgent” demands are met. These demands include the dismissal of Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, the rebuilding and restructuring of the police forces, the modification of the protest law, the release of all political prisoners, and guarantees that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be free and fair. The decision to boycott the elections comes after the killing of one of its members, Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, during a protest on January 24. Meanwhile, several political parties and trade unions in North Sinai have called for a public strike as and boycotting parliamentary elections in protest against the government’s curfew extension there. Leader of the Reform and Development party, Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, urges Sisi to meet with the youth and representatives of the different revolutionary groups lest they also boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections. [DNE, Aswat Masriya, Egypt Independent, 1/29/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Salafi Dawah, Nour Party accuse MB of terrorist acts | Egypt Independent
  • Coptic activist joins Nour Party’s electoral list, causing ripples | Ahram Online
  • Political analysts debate future of Gamal Mubarak | Ahram Online
  • Tamarod will attempt to resubmit application for a political party | Shorouk (Arabic)

COURTS

Leading NDP member acquitted of incitement to kill protesters
A Cairo criminal court has acquitted a leading member of the now-defunct National Democratic Party of incitement to kill protesters during clashes in Tahrir Square in April 2011. Wael Abu al-Leil, Osama al-Shishtawy, and Amr Youssef were also acquitted of other charges, including attacking personal freedoms. [Ahram Online, EGYNews (Arabic), 1/29/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Trial of MB figure adjourned to late February | AMAY (Arabic)
  • Trial of seventy-one Azhar students accused of riot is set for March 1 | EGYNews (Arabic)
  • Twenty-one MB jailed pending trial in Minya on the January 25 anniversary| EGYNews (Arabic)
  • Fifteen Brotherhood members accused of blocking the ring road arrested | AMAY (Arabic)

ECONOMY

Egypt central bank widens band in which banks can trade dollars
Egypt’s central bank widened the band in which banks can trade dollars to 10 piasters above or below the official rate, up from 3 piasters, prompting the lenders’ dollar rates to fall to their weakest ever levels. Expectations that the bank will devalue have grown since it announced a surprise 50-basis-point cut in benchmark interest rates earlier this month. [Reuters, 1/29/2015]

Also of Interest

  • PM forms committee on arrangements for March economic summit | Egypt Independent, SIS
  • Mahlab arrives in Sharm el-Sheikh to assure preparations for economic conference | SIS
  • Egypt considers cutting fuel subsidies by 20 bln pounds next year-minister | Reuters
  • Central Bank allows pound to weaken to new low of 7.49 per dollar | Reuters
  • Deal finalized to place gas import terminal in Ain Sokhna | Mada Masr
  • While coal law still awaits approval, cement firms seek permits to use it | Mada Masr

SOCIETY & MEDIA

Human Rights Watch: Sisi has overseen reversal in human rights
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says rights conditions in Egypt are “in sharp decline,” adding “there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.” In its world report on ninety countries released Thursday, the New York-based rights group said the rise of Islamic extremists after the Arab Spring uprisings have prompted many governments to view human rights as a “luxury for less trying periods.” HRW shut down its Cairo office in February 2014, citing “concerns about the deteriorating security and political environment in the country.” Egyptian authorities have dismissed earlier HRW reports as biased and stopped the group’s executive director from entering the country in August 2014. [Ahram Online, Aswat Masriya, HRW press release, 1/29/2015]

Women hold rally in Cairo to demand investigation into protester deaths
A group of women protested in Cairo on Thursday against the death of Shaimaa al-Sabbagh and around twenty-five other activists allegedly killed by security forces at recent rallies marking the anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 uprising. “The interior ministry are thugs!” around one hundred protesters chanted on Thursday, gathered at the site of Sabbagh’s death. Some of the women held up signs with the word “Murderer” scrawled over the face of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim. Men stood across the street from the protesters, beside police officers, making lewd hand gestures and calling the protesters “dogs” and other profanities. Prominent figures at the rally included former broadcaster Reem Maged and activist Mahinour al-Masry. [Reuters, Ahram Online, Shorouk (Arabic), 1/29/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Government tells foreign journalists to ‘be more accurate’ | DNE
  • Media coverage was far from impartial, says Yaser Abdel-Aziz | DNE
  • Activists fail to reserve funeral hall for Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, accuse security | Ahram Online
  • Activists: Interior Ministry’s approach to lead to new revolution | Egypt Independent
  • International campaign to correct Islam’s image abroad | Egypt Independent
  • Endowments ministry says government should revoke citizenship of those inciting violence | DNE, Mada Masr
  • Egypt seeks to distance police from protester killing | AP
  • Thirty-one infections, ten fatalities from bird flu across Egypt in less than a month | Mada Masr
  • Rights groups condemn killings, forced disappearances on revolution anniversary | Mada Masr

SECURITY

Security source says two alleged ABM members killed, three arrested in North Sinai
A security source in North Sinai announced, on Thursday, the killing of two alleged members of the Islamic State of Egypt, also known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM), and the arrest of three others during a security crackdown in the area of al-Jadey. Troops accompanied by armored vehicles moved to the area where the two men were killed. The security forces seized a mortar cannon, and 120 shells inside a store in Sheikh Zuweid, where three alleged terrorists were arrested, said the sources. [Egypt Independent, 1/29/2015]

Three persons arrested over attempting judge assassination
Qalyubia security services arrested three masked men who opened fire at a Khanka Court judge who survived assassination attempt on Wednesday while in his car. Judge Youssef Nassif suffered flesh wounds and was transferred to Khanka Public Hospital. [Egypt Independent, 1/29/2015]

Also of Interest

INTERNATIONAL

President Sisi arrives in Addis Ababa
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Ethiopia’s capital Thursday, one day ahead of the African Summit, on a three-day visit. Sisi’s visit to Addis Ababa is the first since he became president. He will lead the Egyptian delegation at the summit, which starts Friday. The Egyptian president is expected to hold several meetings in parallel with the summit, including with Ethiopia’s prime minister and the president of South Sudan to discuss the Renaissance Dam and its potential impact on Egypt’s water supply. [Ahram Online, SIS, Shorouk (Arabic), 1/29/2015]

Also of Interest

  • Jobless and desperate, Egyptians risk all in perilous Libya | Egypt Independent
  • Egyptian worker kidnapped in Libya | EGYNews (Arabic)
  • 152 Egyptians arrested for trying to cross illegally into Libya | Shorouk (Arabic)
  • Canadian ambassador: $ 50 million package to Egypt includes security aid | Aswat Masriya (Arabic)