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Headlines : GovernmentEgypt votes in local poll amid protests
Understandably, the Muslim Brotherhood is not keen to participate in Egypt’s local elections after hundreds of its activists were arrested last week by the Mubarak regime. Taking part would legitimate a government which tramples on human rights and democracy, so it is not surprising that this round of elections has descended into farce.
If Robert Mugabe had done before Zimbabwe’s elections what Mubarak has done, a humanitarian intervention may have been in the offing, but Mubarak is untouchable.
The only real resistance to the government is coming from the textile workers of Mahalla in the Nile Delta, where AFP reports that “Police…clashed with demonstrators late Monday, firing tear gas and shots in the air as around 7,000 protesters hurled stones at them.”
Good luck to them.
[Posted By Szamko]Republished from AFP
Egyptians were voting on Tuesday in a municipal poll boycotted by the main opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood, against a backdrop of violent popular discontent over skyrocketing food prices.
The vote was a shoo-in for the ruling National Democratic Party following a sweeping clampdown on the opposition, but the regime is under mounting pressure after two days of unrest centred on the city of Mahalla el-Kobra.
Only 30 percent of seats were being contested, the official MENA news agency said, as the NDP has already won 70 percent unopposed. Results will be announced on Wednesday and over five successive days.
Police were stationed outside Cairo polling stations, with MENA saying the interior ministry had set up “a tight security plan… to guard the polling stations from the outside….
Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.
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25 Egypt opposition members sentenced An Egyptian military court on Tuesday convicted 25 key members of Egypt’s largest opposition group and sentenced them to up to 10 years in jail, a security official said…The charges against the Muslim Brotherhood members included money laundering and terrorism, but it was not immediately clear if the 25 were found guilty of both offenses, according to the official.
And of course, Egypt ruling party wins 92 percent of local poll seats Egypt’s ruling party has won 92 percent of the votes in municipal elections boycotted by the main opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood, a security official told AFP.
Egypt police seize book published by jailed blogger Egypt’s vice squad raided the offices of a publisher and blogger, already detained for backing a general strike last week, and took away copies of one of his publications, his fiancee said on Tuesday…Their main target was the graphic novel Metro by author Magdy al-Shafei, which came out in January and has already been widely sold, fiancee Naira El Sheikh told Reuters.