CAIRO, February 24 (RIA Novosti) - Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday signed a decree to bring forward the start of the country's parliamentary elections, whose first round in Cairo and four other provinces would now be held on April 22-23 instead of April 27-28, media reported.
The information was announced by a presidential spokesman on his Facebook page on Saturday, UAE-based pan-Arab TV channel Al Arabiya reported. Egypt's Coptic Christian minority members had criticized the election date proposed by Morsi earlier because some voting would then be held during their Easter holidays or Holy Week.
The BBC said Thursday the vote would take place in four regional stages due to a shortage of election supervisors.
In line with the new decree, the dates for other stages will now also be moved forward a few days, with the final round to take place on June 15-16, according to the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram. The second round will be held May 11-12, and the third round, May 28-29.
In line with the first decree released Thursday by Morsi’s spokesman Yassir Ali, according to Al Jazeera, the vote would have taken place April 27-28, May 15-16, June 2-3 and 19-20.
Morsi critic Mohamed ElBaradei, a founding member of Egypt’s key opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front (NSF), called Saturday for a boycott of the election.
Egypt is divided between Morsi's supporters and a liberal-led opposition. Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement hope the election will end vocal opposition and street protests.
