'Egypt parliamentary polls seen in April'
2013-01-09 14:18
Cairo - Egypt, battered by political turmoil and an economic
crisis that has sent the local currency tumbling, will hold a parliamentary
election in April, officials said on Wednesday.
Under Egypt's new constitution approved by a referendum last
month, President Mohammed Morsi must set an election date within 60 days of
when he signed the document into law on 26 December.
"The vote for parliament will take place in
April," said an official at the presidency, who asked not to be named.
"The exact date for the vote has not been fixed yet and the president will
announce it no later than 25 February."
The Islamist-led government is trying to clinch a $4.8bn loan
from the IMF to ease economic strains worsened by a turbulent political
transition since a popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in Feb.
2011.
Unrest over the constitution rammed through by Morsi late
last year prompted the Islamist president to withdraw tax rises seen as part of
a programme provisionally agreed with the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF is expected to send a technical team back to Cairo
within two to three weeks to discuss the loan, which is vital to restoring a
measure of confidence in the economy and in the Egyptian pound, which fell to a
new low at a central bank auction of US dollars on Wednesday.
The pound has lost 5 percent of its dollar value since the
central bank adopted a new system of dollar sales on 30 December designed to
stem the currency's fall. The pound has dropped 10.7% since Mubarak's overthrow
nearly two years ago.
Qatar threw Egypt a financial lifeline on Tuesday, saying it
had lent the country another $2 billion and given it an extra $500 million
outright to help control the currency crisis, which has drained foreign
reserves to a critical level.
Egypt has not had a lower house of parliament since the
constitutional court dissolved the Islamist-dominated body in June. Legislative
power now rests with the upper house.
"With a new parliament in place, Egypt would have
completed its transition with an elected president, a constitution and a
parliament," said another official at the presidency.
The Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the
Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Morsi to power in a June election, was the
biggest bloc in the previous parliament.
