 Egypt's parliament has passed a controversial constitutional amendment scorned by opposition MPs who had earlier threatened to boycott the session. The amendment, proposed by President Hosni Mubarak, will allow multi-candidate presidential elections for the first time in Egypt. The 454-seat house, dominated by Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), approved the amendment by a show of hands on Tuesday. Aljazeera later reported that 405 of the total 454 MPs voted in favour of the amendment. The opposition parties and groups aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood walked out of the parliament session in protest. They felt the amendment was inadequate. |