Egypt opposition: Elections are ‘recipe for disaster’

Mohamed ElBaradei warns against President Morsi’s call for parliamentary vote in April

22 February 2013, 3:24 pm

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Female protesters chant anti-President Mohammed Morsi slogans in Port Said, Egypt, (photo credit: AP/Nasser Nasser)

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian opposition leader is warning the president’s call for parliamentary elections in April will only inflame the country’s political tensions.

Mohamed ElBaradei, who leads the main opposition National Salvation Front, wrote on his Twitter account Friday that President Mohammed Morsi’s “decision to go for parliamentary elections amidst severe societal polarization and eroding state authority is a recipe for disaster.”

ElBaradei’s group has already warned it would boycott the vote unless there are talks with the president aimed at real reconciliation. It has also said it will boycott if election laws written by the Islamist-led interim parliament favor Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood party.

The Brotherhood has consistently won at the ballot box since Egypt’s uprising two years ago while the mostly secular and liberal opposition has trailed significantly behind.