CAIRO: Judicial monitoring is not enough to ensure free and fair elections, according to several experts, who called upon voters to monitor the elections themselves.
Speaking Sunday at a Tahrir Dialogues event at the downtown campus of the American University in Cairo, Judge Amir Ramzi discussed the challenges to accuracy and fairness in the upcoming parliamentary elections, which begin Nov. 28. These include “acts of thuggery,” tribal pressure, bribery, and police interventions.
“The solution for all of these issues is observation,” he said. Although judges will supervise inside the polling stations, “I think that we, as citizens have to observe and monitor the elections.”
"As an Egyptian citizen, if you see acts of thuggery, you can act,” he continued. "You can report what is happening, file a report with the police."
Ghada Shahbandar, a veteran of election observation with the organization Shayfeencom (We see you), explained: “The judges won’t be able to know if there are thugs outside.”
“Are the judges angels? Do they come from heaven? No, they make mistakes," she said.
Lawyer Negad El-Borai, the former Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, criticized the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces for refusing international observers other than the Carter Center. He suggested that SCAF told the Carter Center to come witness the elections because they believe the Center will not be able to keep tabs on the entire process.
“Each and every one of us has to consider ourselves observers,” El-Borai said.
Prior to 2000, Ramzi explained, each polling station was responsible for counting votes and announcing the results for their district. That year, the Supreme Constitutional Court set up a system of judicial supervision, meaning that judges would be stationed at each polling place.
In 2007, due to large parliamentary victories for the Muslim Brotherhood the Mubarak government tried to intervene and ceased judicial oversight, Ramzi said.
In 2010, the Muslim Brotherhood and Human Rights NGOs accused the now disbanded National Democratic Party of rigging the elections. The government ignored judicial verdicts deeming the results of several districts illegal.
This led to widespread pessimism about voting, Shahbandar argued. “In 2010, when I was in Alexandria, in two different districts, people didn’t even go…The competition was basically between the NDP and religious movements.”
"Today I have to be optimistic,” she added “Now we have diversity. We’re not only talking about religious movements or the state party.”
Ramzi told prospective voters to encourage their family members and friends to “participate actively,” telling them to “consider candidates like a groom for your daughter.”
“A hotline will be available” for reporting “acts of thuggery,” he said, but citizens who witness violations must inform the local judge, who has wide-ranging powers, including restarting the entire voting process or canceling the center if he believes the results are not fair.
El-Borai expressed hope through imperatives: "You have to go and do your homework. You go. You vote, and you fight for your vote and cross your fingers. You have to defend and defend it forever."
