Presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei on Tuesday called for the exclusive use of a list-based candidacy system in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The call comes two days after the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) rejected amendments to the parliamentary election laws.
On Twitter, ElBaradei wrote, "Even if it requires the amendment of the Constitutional Declaration, the implementation of the list-based system for 100 percent [of parliamentary seats] is the best guarantee for the representation of all groups following decades of absence of democracy."
At a meeting between the SCAF and representatives of political parties on Sunday, several political party leaders insisted on using only the list-based system as opposed to a single-winner system – a demand which the military council refused.
Several party leaders who spoke to Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday accused the SCAF of following in the footsteps of the Mubarak regime.
They added that the military council is giving the impression that political parties can say what they want, but that the SCAF will do what it wants regardless.
Talaat al-Sadat, the president of Egypt National Party, and Osama al-Ghazaly Harb, the president of the Democratic Front Party, rejected operating under such pessimism, saying that such ideas should not guide actions in the political realm.
Mohamed Saad al-Katatny, vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party, said the military council's meeting with political powers was “useless, a waste of time and a frustration."
