Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Monday called for a meeting with the country’s opposition to discuss upcoming legislative polls, amid calls for a boycott.

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Monday called for a meeting with the country's opposition to discuss upcoming legislative polls, amid calls for a boycott.

"I call on all the brothers in the different parties in all of Egypt to come... so we can sit and put in the place the guarantees for the transparency and fairness of the elections," Mursi said in an interview on Al-Mehwar satellite channel.

The interview, which was due to be aired on Sunday evening, was transmitted hours later and ended at dawn, provoking much criticism on social networks.

Staggered parliamentary polls are set to start on April 22 over two months but opposition figures have slammed the timing of the vote while the country is gripped by political divisions and unrest.

Leading dissident Mohamed El-Baradei, coordinator of the opposition National Salvation Front (NSF), on Saturday called for a boycott.

"Called for parliamentary election boycott in 2010 to expose sham democracy. Today I repeat my call, will not be part of an act of deception," he posted on his Twitter account.