As parliamentary elections approaches, Czech Ambassador to Cairo Veronika Kuchynova Smigolova said Sunday that three Czech diplomats will observe the electoral process, state media reported.
Smigolova added that the observers will be present inside various poll stations, while coordinating with the EU mission is also expected to monitor the elections.
An elected parliament is the third pillar of the 30 June road map that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi promised after the ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The Czech Ambassador asserted the process of voting and “considered it an important step to complete the road map”, state media reported. She added that electing a parliament will lead to stability and will achieve developments, allowing “the government to focus on executive tasks”.
Since the Islamist controlled parliament in July 2013 was dissolved, the presidency became the sole legislator of the country.
Smigolova added that the country’s investment environment will improve following elections, announcing that the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic is planning to visit Egypt by next January.
The EU observed Egypt’s last presidential elections and described them as “peaceful and calm” but with “limited spaces for dissenting voices”.
The elections are divided into two stages, and are set to begin on 17 October.
These will be the second parliamentary elections since the 2011 uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak, and the first since the ouster of Morsi in 2013.
Islamists won a majority of seats in the 2011-2012 parliamentary elections, but the parliament was dissolved in June 2012 upon a court order which considered the elections law unconstitutional.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and the Anti-Coup Alliance, which still recognises ousted Mohamed Morsi as the legitimate president of Egypt, have announced that they will not take part in the elections and have deemed polls held by the current government “illegitimate”.
