CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling military council remains committed to holding parliamentary elections in September, despite mounting calls for a delay, a military source told AFP Monday.
“The military council insists on what it has already announced regarding [holding] elections at the end of September, in accordance with the result of a referendum” held in March, the source said.

The military council was responding to statements by Vice President Yehia al-Gamal, who told a satellite channel Sunday that the army had agreed to postpone the polls until December.
In March, Egyptians voted 77 percent in favor of constitutional amendments which confirmed the army’s proposed timetable for parliamentary elections ahead of the drafting of a new constitution.

The latest statement comes amid mounting calls for a delay, with secular activists arguing that an fall election would play into the hands of the highly organized and well established Muslim Brotherhood.
However, cracks have appeared in the Brotherhood ranks with several prominent senior figures announcing this week they would break from the group to from separate political parties.
Some activists fear that holding elections first would also give the Islamist group too much influence in drafting the Constitution.

Power was transferred to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces by former President Hosni Mubarak upon his ouster on Feb. 11 after mass protests against his 30-year rule.
The military council has repeatedly pledged to restore power to a civilian government after legislative elections in September and a presidential vote to be held in November.
U.S. Senator John McCain, who met the country’s military rulers during a visit to Cairo Sunday, said the army wanted to hand over power to an elected government “as soon as possible.”

Gamal also Sunday accused the U.S. and Israel of fomenting religious tensions to weaken his country.
“The United States and Israel are behind the religious sedition in Egypt” as “they realize this is the only way to break up the country,” the MENA news agency reported, quoting Gamal’s television comments.
The latest report of sectarian strife says at least three people were hurt Saturday in clashes between Muslims and Christians in a village in the Sohag governorate.