By Sarah El-Sheikh
In the second round of parliamentary elections, several violations were reported by different observation entities as many candidate supporters bribed voters to convince them to vote for their candidate, according to the parliamentary elections observatory committees.
The violations were observed on Sunday by local NGO Maat for Peace and Development, the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) and the Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPAP)
Numerous polling stations failed to open at the scheduled time, and many complaints revealed faults in the electoral database. Abdel Fattah Abu Issa, who belongs to the Gharbiya governorate, was surprised that his name was not listed in the electoral database and that he was registered as deceased, according a NCHR statement.
A similar incident occurred in the area of Al-Zawya Al-Hamra. Ashraf Mohamoud submitted a compliant with the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) when he realised he was registered as deceased in the electoral database, despite his participation in the constitutional referendum.
Several candidates used microbuses to direct voters in various governorates such as Ismailia. Three candidates encouraged group voting and vote-buying operations by gathering voters in microbuses to transfer them to certain polling stations.
In Sharqeya a microbus driver advertised for a candidate in front of a station, and in Helwan two microbuses arrived to a polling station carrying voters in favour of candidate Mohamed Abu Al-Hassan. A similar incident occurred in Port Said.
In the Zeitoun constituency in Cairo, candidate Zakria Sayed distributed food among voters in the vicinity of polling stations.
The ESDP also observed violations in the New Cairo constituency and in Boulaq Abul Elaa constituency. Party candidate Mostafa Hagrasy discovered that his electoral symbol, the train, was replaced with a guitar.
In the Menuf constituency in Menufiya, two candidates placed tents 10 metres away from the polling station to direct voters.
In the Heliopolis and Nozha constituency, turnout for voting on the first day by noon was low, with mostly senior women voting in different committees. Youth were not present, nor were many men .
In a polling station in the Daqahileya governorate, a campaign by candidate Ahmed El-Awady was recorded to convince voters to choose him. The same incident was reported in the Mansoura constituency.
Head of polling station number 88 in Daqahleya refused to assist special needs people and electoral advertisements were distributed. Moreover, in station number 87, the judge did not allow women wearing Niqab to vote until their faces are seen. In Port Said, judges of a polling station distributed polling papers without their seals.
The Maadi constituency polling stations witnessed medium turnout from both genders, which led some polling stations to delay their opening. Electoral posters and advertisements filled all the voting centres there.
It is also reported that in Maadi, candidate delegates were present inside several stations. Meanwhile, in Kafr Al-Sheikh, the judge refused to allow delegates to enter the station.
In the North Sinai governorate, supporters of candidate Soliman Amloot prevented supporters of candidate Abdallah Mohamed Salem from entering the station, and security forces intervened to resolve the issue.
Bribes are commonly used by candidates to buy voters in every election process in Egypt. Various types of violations are usually observed.
