Mubarak promises free polls
2005-09-30 21:04
Cairo - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday promised that the November legislative elections would be free, fair and held under judicial supervision.
Several opposition parties and independent monitoring organisations had complained of widespread irregularities in the September 7 presidential election that swept Mubarak to a fifth term.
Mubarak said: "As I had promised for the presidential election, the upcoming legislative polls will also be free and fair and will take place under the supervision of the electoral commission and the judges."
He was delivering the closing speech of his ruling National Democratic Party.
He said: "The presidential election was not the end of the path, we are now facing parliamentary elections that are extremely important."
According to official sources, the elections would kick off on November 8 and be spread out for three weeks.
Out of the Egyptian parliament's 454 MPs, 444 were elected, while the president appointed the remaining 10, whose National Democratic Party controls 404 seats.