Egyptian police blocking voters as final round of parliamentary elections begin News
Egyptian police blocking voters as final round of parliamentary elections begin

[JURIST] The final round of Egypt's legislative elections began Thursday, though riot police in some towns blocked access to polling stations in contradiction to government promises of free and fair elections. The cordoning-off of polling stations is thought to be related to the success of the Muslim Brotherhood [Wikipedia backgrounder] in earlier stages in the election. During the first two rounds of polling, candidates from the Islamic party won 76 seats in the 454-member parliament, more than five times its seats in the outgoing parliament, prompting the arrest of several hundred Brotherhood supporters [JURIST report] earlier this week. An advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile] has said that the government will not allow the Brotherhood to become a legal political party [JURIST report] despite its gains in the elections. Mubarak's office says the ban is meant to keep religion from mixing with politics. AP has more.

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THIS DAY @ LAW

UN calls for UK, France and Israel to leave Egypt

On November 7, 1956, the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 1001, which called on the United Kingdom, France and Israel to pull all of their military forces out of Egypt. The Resolution came during the Suez Canal crisis, during which Israel invaded Egypt with the support of the U.K. and France, after Egyptian President Gamal Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Read Resolution 1001.