CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak demanded a review of Egypt’s recently run parliamentary elections, which were marred by widespread violence, his spokesman said Monday.
Mubarak’s remarks came during a ceremony in which he appointed 10 lawmakers, including five women, and urged newly elected legislators from his ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to achieve the political, economic and social reforms promised in his election program.
“The elections, with their negative and positive aspects, will be a matter of intensive study by all parties to derive lessons to develop future party and democratic actions, Mubarak’s spokesman Suleiman Awwad quoted the president as telling the lawmakers.
“Negative aspects should be answered strongly so that they will not be repeated.
At least 10 people were killed and scores more injured during Egypt’s month-long elections, which ended last week.The violence flared after Egypt’s banned Islamic movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, performed better than most expected, winning 88 seats compared to the 15 it held in the outgoing 454-member parliament. The NDP also won 311 seats.
Police cordoned off many polling stations and prevented people from voting freely.Authorities say the security measures were taken to enable Egyptians to vote in an orderly manner, while government opponents said the moves were made to prevent the Brotherhood from making further gains.
Mubarak, who will officially open the new parliament Tuesday, has the power to appoint 10 lawmakers to the parliament. Five of those he chose Monday were Coptic Christians, including three women. Another two Muslim women are among the 10.
The president regularly appoints Copts to the parliament to balance their poor representation in elections. Copts, who are about 10 percent of the 72 million population, won only one seat in the elections.
Lawmakers also nominated longtime NDP member Fathi Sorour to be parliament speaker again, while Zeinab Redwan and Abdel-Aziz Mustafa were tapped to be his deputies. AP
