By Tamim Elyan
REUTERS
CAIRO: Egyptian political parties accepted Sunday concessions on election rules offered by the military, pulling back from threats to boycott Egypt’s first multi-candidate vote since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted.
The parties, seeking to keep Mubarak’s former allies out of parliament, had threatened to boycott the polls unless the army changed an election law to allow them to field candidates both on party lists and for seats allocated to individuals. The ruling army council said Saturday it would amend that law, set a clearer timetable for a move to civilian rule and would consider ending military trials for civilians and lifting of emergency laws.

But political activists and parties said the army’s statement had fallen short of meeting their demand of immediately lifting emergency laws and preventing remnants of Mubarak’s former ruling party from running. Parties meeting Sunday said although they have dropped the boycott threat, they would continue to press for the other demands to be met.

“We want the state of emergency to end and remnants of the regime to be barred from political life,” an alliance of 34 parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood and liberal Al-Wafd party, said in a statement. Egypt’s parliamentary elections are due to begin on Nov. 28.

Mubarak’s former allies, many of them local notables, have been spurned by most parties, leaving them with few options to get re-elected to parliament apart from running as independents.
“Boycotting the elections was a threatening option to pressure the military council, not a serious one,” said Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party.