CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood lawyers held protests inside the Higher Court of Justice and in front of the South Cairo Court calling for expediting the procedures to hold the Lawyers’ Syndicate elections.
“We’ve had enough, the elections have been postponed several times and now nothing is happening . we had to make a move, said Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, lawyer and head of the Brotherhood’s campaign, adding that so far they’ve had more than 20,000 lawyers sign their request to hold the elections.
According to the Brotherhood’s official website Ikhwanonline, the lawyers held signs reading “We oppose the postponement . We oppose the delaying … Our first request is to set a date for the elections.
The elections have been postponed three times since last October.
Last January, Cairo s Administrative Court has halted elections three days before it was scheduled to take place, due to a report issued by a judicial committee to scrutinize the registration of lawyers who will vote in the elections.
The report describes “violations and errors in the register such as mistakes concerning lawyers names and addresses, and the failure to remove the names of deceased lawyers.
Abdel Maqsoud said that a delegation of lawyers, including Seif El-Islam Hassan El-Banna, Mohamed El-Damaty and Mamdouh Ismail, have met with Judge Salah Youssef, member of the temporary board of the syndicate, who promised that they will submit the list of registered lawyers who will vote in the elections to the South Cairo Court, which is overseeing the elections, by March 31.
“If nothing happens by that day; protests, sit-ins and demonstrations will be held, in addition to a march to the Presidential Palace, said Abdel Maqsoud, adding that the exact dates of said protests will be announced on April 1.
Leftist lawyer and Brotherhood ally El-Damaty told Al-Dostour newspaper, “We won’t let the temporary board continue until the presidential elections in 2011.
Nominees in the election include Islamist lawyer Montaser El-Zayyat, controversial judge Mortada Mansour, Talaat El-Sadat, the incumbent syndicate head Sameh Ashour and lawyer Ragai Atteya.
Atteya says that he is awaiting the court’s ruling on when the elections will be held and hopes that the election process goes smoothly.
Mohsen Eid, lawyer and spokesperson for El-Sadat, also hopes that the elections will “take place in a democratic atmosphere unlike the legislative chaos that happened before, referring to the elections halt which he attributed to two conflicting laws.
