By AFP
CAIRO: Egypt’s ruling party has rejected as “interference” calls, including by Washington, to allow foreign observers to monitor this month’s parliamentary elections, media reports said Wednesday.
The National Democratic Party’s secretary general Sawfat El-Sherif said only local groups would be allowed to observe the Nov. 28 poll.
“Foreign monitoring is considered an interference in Egypt’s affairs,” Al-Ahram newspaper quoted El-Sherif as saying. “The National Democratic Party and legal opposition groups reject any such interference,” he added.
US State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley told reporters on Monday that Washington supported free elections in Egypt.
“The United States remains committed to supporting free and impartial elections in Egypt,” Crowley said, holding the Egyptian government to its own commitment to “fair and transparent elections.”
“We welcome the government of Egypt’s stated commitment to expand political participation and ensure free and transparent elections, including facilitating domestic monitoring by civil society groups.”
The spokesman called on Egypt to ensure peaceful political gatherings, unhindered voter education and participation campaigns, as well as balanced media coverage for all candidates.
“An open electoral process would include a credible and impartial mechanism for reviewing election-related complaints, a domestic election observation effort according to international standards and the presence of international observers,” Crowley added.
Last week, the Egyptian Forum of Independent Human Rights Organizations said a government crackdown on opposition candidates will prevent a fair parliamentary election.
Gamal Eid, the director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, noted the broad powers granted to the interior ministry and “restrictions on independent candidates belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and those who splintered from the National Democratic Party.”
The last election in 2005 was marred by violence and allegations of fraud by judges who supervised the ballot count.
The largest opposition group in parliament, the Muslim Brotherhood, registers its candidates as independents because of a ban on religious parties.
The movement won a fifth of parliament’s seats in the last election, although police closed down polling stages towards the end of the vote. It is expected to win fewer seats this year after a crackdown on its members.
A Brotherhood leader said on Tuesday that police have arrested 600 of its members in the run up to the election. About 250 remain in jail, according to the group.
The government says the election will be transparent and that it has set adequate mechanisms for dealing with complaints of irregularities.
Rights groups in Egypt say the election has already been compromised by arrests of opposition activists and new restrictions on companies that provide foreign media with satellite feeds.
