Just five days to go before Egypt's parliamentary election, but I can't work up much enthusiasm to write about it. The whole thing is a bad joke.

For a general overview, I'd recommend this assessment by Jack Shenker on his blog. "Welcome to the bizarre world of Egypt’s parliamentary elections," he writes, "where thousands of candidates from dozens of parties are competing for hundreds of parliamentary seats – all safe in the knowledge that their campaigning will have virtually no impact on the final result."

For my own part, I'll just offer this poster from the 2005 presidential election (which I covered for the Guardian). The slogan in Arabic says: "Yes to freedom and democracy. Yes to economic development and prosperity."

You at the back there, stop laughing. It isn't funny.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 23 November 2010.