Egypt president will modify parliament election dates -speaker

         
Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi will modify the dates of upcoming parliamentary elections after requests from Christian lawmakers to change them, the speaker of parliament's upper house said on Saturday.           

Members of the Coptic Christian minority had objected to the election dates Morsi announced on Thursday, as some voting would be held during their Easter celebrations.   

"The president answered the requests of the Coptic members and will issue a statement changing the dates of the elections," Ahmed Fahmy, the speaker of the Shura Council, told lawmakers. He did not say when Morsi would make an announcement.        

Earlier, Egyptian liberal opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei called for a boycott of parliamentary elections which are due to start in April.              

ElBaradei, a former U.N. nuclear agency chief, noted that he had called in 2010 for a similar boycott of polls held under president Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted the following year.                                

"Today I repeat my call, (I) will not be part of an act of deception," ElBaradei said on his Twitter account.               


REUTERS