[JURIST] A gathering of some 3000 Egyptian judges in Cairo Friday followed up threats first made in April [JURIST report] and agreed by consensus to boycott the upcoming Egyptian national election unless the government gives them full and independent oversight responsibility. Judges are required by Egyptian law to supervise voting, but they have complained about executive rigging of past elections and have demanded more supervisory power free from interference and intimidation. The judges conference agreed to reassess the situation on September 2, before voting takes place. Last week the Egyptian parliament approved a constitutional amendment [Aljazeera video; WMP] to allow multiple candidates to run in opposition to current president Hosny Mubarak, but the changes have been criticized as, in practice, limiting opponents to individuals approved by members of the ruling party. Aljazeera has more.