CAIRO: Councilor Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, head of the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC), said in a press conference Thursday that some of the employees overseeing the voting process in the first round are not needed in the run-offs, and will not receive the second half of the promised LE 1,000 bonus.
Employees in different constituencies are protesting after they learned they will not take part in the run-off elections and will not receive the other half of their promised bonus.
"The bonus was raised to LE 1,000 for each employee administrating the electoral process," said Ibrahim, adding that they were promised to get half the bonus after the first round and the other half after the run-offs.
"All employees received the first half. But, there are some employees, those who were supervising the elections of the party-lists candidates, who are not needed in the run-offs which take place between individual candidates only," he explained.
The councilor stressed that the protesting employees are demanding bonuses they did not work to earn.
Around 300 employees overseeing the polling stations allegedly tried to storm Hadayek El-Qobba police station, after they were informed that they would not officially be working during the run-off process, according to media reports.
Reports went on to say that a security official tried to negotiate with the employees and promised to get them a bonus of LE 200 each. However, the offer was rejected by the employees who decided to continue their sit-in in front of the police station.
Meanwhile, dozens of employees reportedly cut the road in front of one of Al-Sayeda Aisha’s polling stations, at Al-Sayeda Aisha elementary school, saying they are yet to receive their bonuses.
The protesting employees set checkpoints on the main road to prevent cars from driving through which caused traffic congestion and clashes between with the drivers on the road, according to press reports.
Similar protests took place in Abasseya and in front of Abdin’s police station downtown, as employees said they didn’t receive a promised LE 1,000 bonus and the alleged replacement of some of the employees by others in the run-offs.
