CAIRO: Criticism of the electoral process and the consequent results led the latest report released by the legally-oriented United Group regarding the parliamentary elections in 2005.
This election evaluated the real political will to push forward. The democratic and political reform Egyptians are aspiring for, reads the report. The reason why this election was the fiercest and the most important, is the outrageous methods used by the authorities for decades . manipulating [the public’s] votes is no longer viable in the new political climate, were among the allegations mentioned.
While the study acknowledges substantial improvement in the 2005 elections compared to previous years , it also points to numerous violations. Commending the relative progress noticeable in the use of transparent ballot boxes and inedible ink, the report says if compared to other countries where fair and transparent elections took place, Egypt is left behind.
The report surveys the legal climate of parliamentary elections, modifications of political rights and laws and the different interferences of the government and related violations that tampered with the final results of the elections.
Demands of complete judiciary supervision were ignored, states the report. Instead, the government formed the Supreme Committee of Elections (SCE), whose integrity the report questions. Since the committee features members of the executive authority, and was established by decree from the president who also heads the competing National Democratic Party, its role was open to heavy criticism.
Perhaps, the only clearly defined task of this committee was in announcing the final result of elections, reads the study that pointed at the failure of the SCE to prepare proper voting and campaigning rules with punishment for violators. The SCE was also criticized for giving dominance to the executive authority over electoral lists, which were given to NDP candidates.
While the work of the SCE falls under the state s indirect interference, a category that also included the use of state-run media and the inauguration of governmental projects to strengthen NDP candidates, there were other direct interventions.
In constituencies with a strong presence of opposition and independent candidates, namely those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the police allegedly blocked streets to prevent people from voting. In the third round . many polling centers were partially or completely closed, people were informally banned from leaving their houses and tens of villages were surrounded by police forces that fired guns to deter voters.
Additionally, the elections violated the principal of equal opportunity. On the voters side, regulations were seen to discriminate against female voters.
The bigger impact, the report notes, was in the benefits NDP candidates gained from such violations in the form of state-favoritism and an inherent monetary advantage.
MB candidates made their share of violations as well, in ignoring the usage of religious slogans.
The study also points to state interference in restricting the formations of political parties and consequently undermining the political scene and any power the opposition parties may have. This was one of many reasons offered by the study for the rise in popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Other reasons include the lessening NDP credibility and its lack of cohesiveness during elections. While the MB gained around 20 percent of the parliament seats, NDP sustained considerable losses. Sixty-six percent of NDP candidates lost. The ruling party later recruited election winners, who were initially excluded from its official list.
This way, the NDP was able to have 73 percent of the parliament seats instead of the initial 32 percent, reads the report.
The report, skeptical of the effects of MB rise to power, tries to explain this trend. Some analysts assure that the government and the ruling party enabled the MB to make some progress within certain boundaries, betting that the rise of the MB would lead national and international forces calling for reform to revise and redefine their request for reform and democracy. The newly published study is work of the Egyptian United Group Attorneys at Law, legal Advisors and Human Rigs Advocates (UG), and the American Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Through the project of Look to the Future, which aimed to train 480 lawyers to work as candidate representatives and 320 mid-leaders of political parties on political campaigning techniques, the two groups collaborated on the study.
Entitled Eyewitnesses, the study is indeed conducted in that manner, through real eyewitness accounts from those who worked in the problematic electoral districts. According to a UG statement, The Eyewitnesses were selected from the youth who had been trained by the UG.
The additional data was collected through the legal unit of the UG that had registered the judgments of the administrative court which are relevant to the last parliamentary elections.
