Egypt

National Salvation Front will not attend national dialogue

National Salvation Front Spokesperson Hussein Abdel Ghany has denied remarks by former Vice President Mahmoud Mekky saying that the group was planning to attend President Mohamed Morsy's "national dialogue" session on 9 January.

Mekky said Tuesday that the front promised him it would participate in the seventh session of the talks and that eight members would represent the group.

Al-Arabiya news website quoted Abdel Ghany as saying that no standards had been set for the process.

The president’s office had started dialogue sessions last in an attempt to reach consensus with political forces opposing the country's new constitution, which was approved by nearly 64 percent of voters.

The National Salvation Front, comprised of at least 15 secular and left-leaning political groups, refused to take part in the dialogue unless the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly was dissolved. The front also claimed that the constitution referendum was marred by myriad irregularities.

On Tuesday, attendees at the sixth round of the dialogue agreed on a bill regulating the upcoming elections for the House of Representatives. The draft will be submitted to the upper house of Parliament, the Shura Council, which temporarily holds legislative powers until the lower house is elected.

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