Egypt’s Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPAP) will launch on Sunday evening a new campaign called “If You Elect Them” to warn voters of the dangers of electing to parliament members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and Hosni Mubarak’s dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP).
Medhat El-Zahed, acting chair member of the SPAP, said in a press conference on Wednesday that the party “is participating to fight against the return of the old faces of Mubarak and political Islam.”
Party media officer in Cairo Yehia El-Gaafary told Ahram Online that “the campaign will use social media outlets such as Facebook to spread awareness, while also printing leaflets calling for Egyptians to not give their votes to Brotherhood supporters and remnants of the NDP.”
Organisers from the 30 June "Tamarod" campaign will be joining the current "If You Elect Them" campaign. El-Gaafary also said that SPAP will invite other "revolutionary parties" to join as well.
El-Gaafary acknowledged that the campaign will not completely prevent the election of the targeted candidates but will significantly reduce support and votes gained by them.
Sobhi Eseila, an expert on public opinion and a researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, recently stated in an interview with Ahram Online that former NDP members and candidates backed by Brotherhood supporters will definitely be in the next parliament.
The SPAP is also expected during Sunday’s press conference to call on other civil parties that share their same goals to join their campaign. El-Zahed describes these goals as “relying on the social and democratic goals represented by the 25 January Revolution and its extension on 30 June.”
Six candidates representing the SPAP are currently running for individual seats, with nine others running as independents.
The first phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections will start on 17-18 October for Egyptians abroad and 18-19 October for voters inside Egypt, while the second phase of the elections will start on 21-22 November for those abroad and 22-23 November for those in Egypt.
Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/152674/Egypt/Politics-/%E2%...
