CAIRO | Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:51pm EST (Reuters) - Egypt's military rulers are expected on Tuesday to step up efforts to restore stability, hoping a promise of a swift transition to democracy will prevent a new flare-up in the protests which forced out Hosni Mubarak. Tuesday will be a national holiday to mark the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. The ruling Higher Military Council urged workers on Monday to return to work. In "Communique No. 5" read out on state television, a military spokesman said: "Noble Egyptians see that these strikes, at this delicate time, lead to negative results." The military rulers have promised free and fair elections, suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. On Monday they appointed retired judge Tareq al-Bishry, respected in legal circles for his independent views, to head a committee set up to propose constitutional changes. But the military has given no timetable for elections beyond saying it would be in charge "for a temporary period of six months or until the end of elections to the upper and lower houses of parliament, and presidential elections." Existing registered parties are mostly small, weak and fragmented. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which under the now suspended constitution could not form a party, may be the best organized group but its true popularity has yet to be tested. Other parties need at least a year for an election, said one politician who struggled to found a party under Mubarak. "If parliamentary elections happen now, the only party ready to go into elections are the Muslim Brotherhood," said Abou Elela Mady, who broke away from the Brotherhood in the 1990s.
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