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Tag: SEC

  • 141 complaints, 93 delayed polling stations on first internal electoral day: SEC

    141 complaints, 93 delayed polling stations on first internal electoral day: SEC

    The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) held a press conference Sunday afternoon to announce updates on the second phase of the parliamentary elections in Egypt and abroad.

    The second phase started for Egyptians abroad Saturday and continued Sunday. Local voters started Sunday and will continue Monday. Elections are taking place in 13 governorates, which are Cairo, Daqahleya, Gharbeya, Qaliubiya, Menufiya, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Ismailia, Suez, Sharqeya, Port Said, North Sinai, South Sinai, and Damietta.

    SEC spokesperson Omar Marwan confirmed earlier observatory reports on the delay of several polling stations when opening according to scheduled voting hours from 9am to 9pm.

     

    “We have noticed delays in 93 polling stations this morning,” Marwan said, and announced the arrest of three people who were caught collecting voters’ IDs in exchange for money to buy their votes.

     

    “They were released on bail of EGP 1,000,” he said.

     

    A total of 141 complaints were received in the first half of the day.

    “We are doing our best to fight any violations. We have even assigned extra judges in a few areas who are in charge of inspecting the surroundings of polling stations to note any violations,” Marwan said.

     

    Usually, judges are only responsible for what happens inside polling stations and therefore unavailable outside since they cannot control illegal electoral campaigns or people directing voters.

    The SEC faced criticism by political parties and observatory missions for lack of action against violations during the first electoral phase, to which Marwan had previously responded by explaining the SEC’s limited authorisation.

    However, the SEC appears to have increased efforts to contain violations in the current phase. Marwan admitted that there were issues in the voters’ database, which resulted in misinforming some citizens who inquired about their polling stations.

    A citizen named Ashraf Mohamed filed a complaint to the SEC after sending an SMS to 5151, the number the commission designated for voters’ inquiries. According to a report by local NGO Maat, observing elections, Mohamed was surprised to find out he was not registered “due to the death of this citizen”.

    Finally, when asked about the situation in North Sinai, Marwan said the loosened curfew hours, from 7pm to 11pm, were set to facilitate the voting process.

    “But let me reassure you that polling stations there saw a large turnout in Ber El-Abd, Sheikh Zuwaid, and one area in Al-Arish city, to the extent that there were long queues,” Marwan said.

     

  • Second phase of parliamentary elections launched in Egypt

    Second phase of parliamentary elections launched in Egypt

    Since the opening of polling stations on Sunday morning, some errors were reported by the observatory mission hosted by local NGO Maat.

    The mission also includes the Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD), the International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (IIPJHR), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

    The mission reported that five schools, four of which are located in Cairo, opened around 9:20–9:30am, instead of 9am sharp. Some other schools even opened after 10am, according to observer reports. Many schools were on time. Polling stations are supposed to close at 9pm.

    On a different note, there are reports of violations by candidates. As in the first phase of elections held in October, some illegal campaigning is reportedly taking place in front of polling stations.

    It is too early to judge turnout rates, but Maat reported that in the governorate of Port-Said, a “huge” turnout was observed in the morning in several schools, with polling stations in Menufiya described as “crowded with voters”.

    This is the second phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, this time taking place in 13 governorates. Voters must choose candidates from two electoral systems: the closed-list system and individual candidates.

    In the closed-list system, voters cast their votes for an entire list, containing a mix of independent and party-based candidates.

    In the Cairo and Central Delta area, lists contain 45 names. The area includes the capital Cairo, Daqahleya, Gharbeya, Qaliubiya, Menufiya and Kafr Al-Sheikh.

    In the East Delta area, lists contain 15 names. The area includes Ismailia, Suez, Sharqeya, Port Said, North Sinai, South Sinai and Damietta.

    In the Cairo and Central Delta area, voters can choose from four lists: For the Love of Egypt; Al-Nour Party; the Republican Alliance; and Tayyar Al-Istiqlal.

    However, For the Love of Egypt faces no competition in the East Delta area.

    “Voting cards for that constituency will have one blue box to approve the list and one red box to reject it. This list must get at least 5% of the total voters’ registered in those governorates,” according to a statement from the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC).

  • 2,000+ candidates in parliamentary elections including Cairo and Sinai

    2,000+ candidates in parliamentary elections including Cairo and Sinai

    The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) said in a press conference Thursday that a total of 2,847 candidates will be competing over 222 individual seats in the second phase of parliamentary elections scheduled for 21, 22 and 23 November.

    According to SEC spokesperson Omar Marwan, a total of 28,204,225 voters are registered, and nearly 15,000 judges will be supervising over 12,000 local polling stations.  “They are rushing to go to Sinai,” Marwan was quoted saying by local press, assuring parliamentary elections will be smooth in North and South Sinai.

    The SEC will announce the final list of individual candidates on 12 November, after all appeals are reviewed by the court.

    Elections will take place for Egyptians abroad on 21 and 22 November, and in Egypt on 22 and 23 November. Runoff elections will be held from 30 November to 2 December. The governorates of the second phase are Cairo, Qaliubiya, Daqahleya, Gharbeya, Menufiya, Kafr El-Sheikh (Cairo constituency), and North and South Sinai governorates, Damietta, Ismailia, Sharqeya, Suez and Port Said (East Delta constituency).

    For the closed-lists system, there should be two elected lists, one with 15 members for the East Delta constituency and one with 45 members for the Cairo constituency. In East Delta, only ‘For the Love of Egypt’ electoral list run by Sameh Seif El-Yazal is participating in the elections, setting the bar high in order to become a winner of votes, as the list must obtain at least 5% of the total votes.

    Other competitors are Al-Nour Party list, the Republican Alliance led by Tahany El-Gebaly, The Egyptian Front Coalition and Tayyar Al-Istiqlal, with 45 members each.

    The SEC will even design a special voting card for the constituency, in which voters would be asked to mark their choices by accepting or rejecting the list.

    This comes as one of the long awaited parliamentary tasks is the review of laws and legislations that have been issued by the executive power post 30 June, according to constitutional Article 156 which stipulates:

    “If the House of Representatives has not been elected, the President of the Republic may issue decrees having the force of law, provided that they are then presented to, discussed and approved by the new House of Representatives within fifteen days from the commencement of its session. If such decrees are neither presented nor discussed by the House, or if they are presented but not ratified thereby, their force of law shall retroactively be revoked without need for issuing a decision to that effect, unless the House confirms its effectiveness during the previous period or decides to settle the consequences thereof.”

    But Ali Abdul Al, a winning parliamentary candidate from the first phase in the governorate of Qena on ‘For the Love of Egypt’ list, told the press as he registered at the parliament that “decrees issued by Adly Mansour, the former interim president of post 30 June, and current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will not be reviewed by the new parliament”.

    In statements published by state media MENA Thursday, Abdul Al argued that the constitutional article applies to “normal circumstances where the parliament is on vacation or temporary suspended for new elections, and that the previous phase was a period of parliament freeze and therefore does not apply”.

    He added that, in case of disputed constitutional views, a committee of the parliament will decide on the issue.

  • Candidates continue violations in second phase of parliamentary elections: Maat

    Candidates continue violations in second phase of parliamentary elections: Maat

     

    A young man died after falling off a bridge overlooking the Nile in Damietta, while putting up a banner for a parliamentary candidate, Maat’s local international joint mission reported.

    This comes as electoral campaigns for the second phase of elections kicked-off Tuesday, to end on 21 November for an obligatory electoral silence period before the ballot.

    In its daily report on the parliamentary elections, the mission traced several infringements in Cairo, Port Said and Menufiya.

    Meanwhile, the Ministry of Religious Endowment renewed its warning against the use of worship places to campaign for elections, saying it would also immediately revoke any preacher’s license if they use mosques to discuss parliamentary elections.

    Such a practice violates the regulations set by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) regarding electoral campaigns. Such violations were committed in the first phase, as both Islam and Coptic Orthodox Christianity were used in candidates’ promotions.

    The second round also witnessed the use of religion, as Maat reported that a candidate in Dar El-Salam in Cairo organised a religious ceremony with the presence of a sheikh singing religious choirs.

     

    According to Ayman Okeil, Director of the Maat Foundation and coordinator of the local-international joint observatory mission, most candidates for the second phase did not respect the dates set to start campaigning.

     

    Okeil had previously blamed the SEC for not penalising violating candidates, and the SEC stated that it was short-handed until full investigations into reported incidents were completed.

     

    Meanwhile, on Tuesday, election winners of the first phase began registration procedures at the parliament, and at least 147 members out of 273 winning candidates obtained their membership cards, state-run news agency MENA reported.

    This comes as the second phase of elections is scheduled for mid-November in the governorates of Cairo, Daqahleya, Damietta, Gharbeya, Ismailia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Menufiya, North Sinai, South Sinai, Sharqeya, Suez and Qaliubiya.

    The first phase included 14 governorates in Egypt, and concluded in October with a participation turnout of 26.5% in the first round and 21.7% in runoff elections, according to the SEC.

    “People’s low participation in the elections has various reasons such as lack of knowledge and conviction about candidates and their programmes, disinterest in politics,” explained Naayem Zaghloul, Public Relations officer at the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center, as quoted by MENA on Tuesday.

    At the same time, SEC spokesperson Omar Marwan’s press statement suggest that a “3% margin of error and violations marked the first electoral phase”, in reference to the number of incidents where polling stations were delayed in opening and a number of judges were absent.

    On the other hand, Egyptian youth were absent from the vote, and other citizens have stated poor government performance and no faith in reform as reasons behind not voting.

  • Candidates campaign for second phase of parliamentary elections

    Candidates campaign for second phase of parliamentary elections

     

     

    Parliamentary elections entered their second phase as electoral campaigns kicked-off Tuesday, to end on 21 November for an obligatory electoral silence period before the ballot.

    The Ministry of Religious Endowment renewed its warning against the use of worship places to campaign for elections, saying it would also immediately revoke any preacher’s license if they use mosques to discuss parliamentary elections.

    Such a practice violates the regulations set by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) regarding electoral campaigns. Such violations were committed in the first phase, as both Islam and Coptic Orthodox Christianity were used in candidates’ promotions.

    Moreover, according to Ayman Okeil, Director of the Maat Foundation and coordinator of the local-international joint observatory mission, most candidates for the second phase did not respect the dates set to start campaigning.

     

    Okeil had previously blamed the SEC for not penalising violating candidates, and the SEC stated that it was short-handed until full investigations into reported incidents were completed.

     

    Meanwhile, on Tuesday, election winners of the first phase began registration procedures at the parliament, and at least 147 members out of 273 winning candidates obtained their membership cards, state-run news agency MENA reported.

     

    This comes as the second phase of elections is scheduled for mid-November in the governorates of Cairo, Daqahleya, Damietta, Gharbeya, Ismailia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Menufiya, North Sinai, South Sinai, Sharqeya, Suez and Qaliubiya.

     

    The first phase included 14 governorates in Egypt, and concluded in October with a participation turnout of 26.5% in the first round and 21.7% in runoff elections, according to the SEC.

    “People’s low participation in the elections has various reasons such as lack of knowledge and conviction about candidates and their programmes, disinterest in politics, in addition to traditions that prevent women from voting,” explained Naayem Zaghloul, Public Relations officer at the cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), as quoted by MENA on Tuesday.

    At the same time, SEC spokesperson Omar Marwan’s press statement suggest that a “3% margin of error and violations marked the first electoral phase”, in reference to the number of incidents where polling stations were delayed in opening and a number of judges were absent.

    On the other hand, Egyptian youth were absent from the voter, and other citizens have stated poor government performance and no faith in reform as reasons behind not voting.

     

  • SEC announces final results in first round of parliamentary elections

    SEC announces final results in first round of parliamentary elections

    By Toqa Ezzidin

    Head of the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) Ayman Abbas announced in a press conference Friday that the first round of the parliamentary elections resulted in 273 candidates winning, both on party lists and independent candidates, state-owned media reported.

    In the press conference held on Friday to announce the final results of the first round of parliamentary elections, Abbas said 213 independent candidates won, including five women and 12 representatives under the age of 35.

    The Free Egyptians Party, founded by business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, came in first place with a total of 36 seats, followed by the Future of a Nation Party with a total of 21 seats.

    The Al-Nour Party won eight seats, followed by the Conference Party with a total of five seats. The Homat Watan Party and the Egyptian Social Democratic Party won four and three seats respectively, privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

    Abbas said winners of parliamentary seats include 108 representatives with political party affiliations, 105 independents and 60 list representatives from the “For the Love of Egypt” list, to total 273 representatives.

    According to Abbas, the run-offs for the first round took place in 99 polling stations, where 418 candidates competed over 209 seats.

    Abbas announced that the participation rate in the first round of the parliamentary elections was 26%, noting that this is an “acceptable” rate, especially as there will be a second round.

    Abbas also urged citizens to participate in the second round of elections, confirming that the violations in the runoffs of the first round “did not exceed 1%”. These violations included postponement in opening the polling stations or any other violations from the candidates.

    He added that several international watchdogs praised the elections’ transparency, whereby the African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) confirmed in its reports their confidence in the SEC and its objectivity and competency to successfully manage the elections.

    Further, the Arab League delegation affirmed in its report the professionalism of the SEC and the importance of raising electoral awareness to enhance the integrity of the elections.

    He added that a total of 367 appeals on the first round of the elections were rejected, supported by verdicts from the High Administrative Court, except for three appeals that have yet to receive verdicts.

    Abbas concluded saying the Matruh governorate saw the highest voter turnout, with a rate of 33.45%, while the lowest was Alexandria with a rate of 14.38%.

     

  • Free Egyptians and Al-Nour parties win seats in parliamentary elections

    Free Egyptians and Al-Nour parties win seats in parliamentary elections

    The parliamentary elections’ first phase concluded Wednesday. The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) will announce the results later in the evening but polling stations and sub-electoral commissions in governorates have issued preliminary results.

    Competition in the runoff elections was intense and marked by increased disputes between candidates’ supporters near polling stations, as well as candidates attacking each other on local media. Runoff elections took place because none of the candidates obtained a majority of votes in the first round, with the exception of four candidates in all 103 constituencies in 14 governorates.

    Elections observers and the media have highlighted candidates and their supporters’ violations of the electoral silence, with hundreds of illegal forms of campaigning as well as direct bribes to voters, amid demands to SEC to reinforce the law that applies penalties on violators.

    “If SEC banned just one candidate from the elections due to exceeding legal limits of electoral campaign expenditure, it would have directly resulted in a decrease of the phenomenon,” Ayman Okeil said Wednesday in TV statements.

    Before and during the elections, most politicians were unhappy with parliamentary laws since they saw it enhanced the use of political money in the elections.

    Participation turnout rates did not score high for different reasons, including voters’ unfamiliarity with candidates, an opposed political stance by the youth, and resentment of government performance, according to the geo-politics of each area.

    In the first phase, SEC said there was a 26% participation turnout and the governorate of Giza scored the lowest, despite several hotspots in the governorate. The Agouza and Dokki constituency witnessed a race between three “controversial” public figures.

    Journalist and TV host Abdul Reheem Ali, famous for leaking people’s personal phone calls, and an opponent of the 25 January Revolution, won easily, leaving another seat for the constituency for candidates Ahmed Mortada Mansour and Amr El-Shobaky to compete over.

    Mansour, son of provocative President of Zamalek Football Club Mortada Mansour, announced Wednesday night winning over his rival by 500 seats.  Moratada Mansour, similar to Ali in terms of political views, led a defamation campaign against Al-Shobaky, accusing him of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had negative political connotations since the 30 June uprising in 2013.

    Preliminary results showed Al-Shobaky in lead in a dozen polling stations during the counting process but shifted later to suggest Mansour had passed Al-Shobaky. In the first round, Mansour obtained 24,692 cotes compared to 20,191 votes for Al-Shobaky.

    Other sources suggested Mansour, who is running in the name of the Free Egyptians Party (FEP), obtained 21,817 in the runoff against 21,029 for Al-Shobaky, who is running as an independent candidate.

    Political parties announced their winners with parliamentary seats on Thursday. FEP was declared with highest number of winning candidates and its spokesperson Shehab Waguih said 41 party members won, 36 on individual seats and 5 among the winning electoral list ‘For the Love of Egypt.’

    The Conference Party announced seven winners in Alexandria, Luxor, and Sohag.

    Al-Nour Party announced the winning candidates in the parliament. According to preliminary results stated by head of the SEC in Alexandria Abdullah El-Khouly, two of Al-Nour members won seats in the constituency of Amreya and Borg Al-Arab.  The candidates are Ahmed Khairallah and Ahmed Al-Sherif.

    Al-Nour also won six seats in the governorate of Beheira and a number of seats in Matruh. Other preliminary results are yet to include voters’ count of Egyptians living abroad.

    SEC will announce the final results within hours, according to its electoral schedule.

  • Parliamentary elections runoff: same old, same old

    Parliamentary elections runoff: same old, same old

    Parliamentary runoff elections in the first 14 governorates witnessed almost the same problematic circumstances as last week’s, in terms of participation turnout and electoral violations.

    Egyptians abroad voted in runoff elections Monday and Tuesday, but according to Head of the Egyptians Abroad Union in Saudi Arabia Emam Youssef, voters turnout might have been even lower in the runoff elections than in the first round.

    “The period between announcing results and second rounds was extremely limited for us to know the candidates,” said Youssef. This was despite his hopes that this issue would be resolved, based on “many complaints of voters abroad”.

    Youssef continued that in addition to this, the period was full of appeals on the first results, which confused voters even more, as they did not know who won and who was rejected.

     

    “Neither the media is focused on informing voters, nor are voters themselves able to become acquainted with candidates,” Youssef said. He further demanded that state-media put more efforts into increasing people’s awareness.

    “I don’t understand why state television is not fulfilling that role. If they dedicated only five minutes to each candidate to speak about their programmes, it would really help us,” Youssef told Daily News Egypt Tuesday.

    He was particularly referring to the Sout Al-Shaab channel affiliated to the Egyptian state TV, which was launched specifically for parliamentary affairs, according to the channel’s own description posted on their official Facebook page. Nonetheless, according to news posted on the same page, the channel has only devoted a few hours intermittently for that purpose.

    Youssef’s constituency is in the capital Cairo, which will elect in the second phase in November. Yet, he does not know any of the candidates. The SEC is going to announce candidates for the other 14 governorates on 3 November, which Youssef finds inconvenient for voters to form opinions.

     

    On the other hand, Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Loza said in televised statements Monday night that there was a high turnout at the Egyptian embassy in Kuwait. Nonetheless, Loza claimed lower turnout than in the first round, which had a total of over 30,000 voters.

     

    Loza said about 2,000 voters abroad are not going to be counted in this round. “They are the voting bloc in four constituencies where elections were cancelled by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) upon court orders,” he stated.

     

    Meanwhile in Egypt, electoral bribes and illegal campaigning took place near polling stations across almost all governorates. The Maat foundation’s international observation mission reported on such violations since the morning.

    Bribes varied from free rides to polling stations, to cash bribes and food distribution, mostly in Alexandria. Voters were also handed out ads and directed to vote in favour of certain candidates, according to the observatory mission.

    In a rare instance involving civil society organisations, the mission reported that in Alexandria’s Dekhela district, candidates “used a charity association to distribute money (EGP 50-EGP 100 for each vote) to residents to vote for them”.

    The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) also said it noticed that some polling stations were delayed in opening.

    On a final note, Daily News Egypt observed in Imababa that there were “attempts to obstruct the media from portraying empty polling stations and electoral bribes”.

     

  • Are parliamentary elections transparent despite violations?

    Are parliamentary elections transparent despite violations?

    A second electoral silence was effective Sunday noon ahead of a second round of elections between candidates who obtained the highest number of votes in their constituencies, running for parliamentary individual seats.

    Runoff elections will take place Monday and Tuesday for Egyptians living abroad, and on Tuesday and Wednesday within the governorates of Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Luxor, Aswan, Minya, Sohag, Qena, Assiut, New Valley, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira and Matruh.

    Since the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) announced the results of the first round of the first electoral phase in 14 governorates, two trending topics were discussed by candidates in the local media: speculations on turnout in runoff elections and candidates’ distrust in results and claims of “non-transparency”.

    According to Ahmed Kasseb, legal advisor and deputy secretary-general of ‘Future of a Nation Party’, Iman Nasef, the party’s candidate in Al-Qanater constituency in Giza governorate appealed the results of the SEC on grounds of “forgery”.

    “Our candidate objected to not being included in the second round despite that vote counts showed she was a winner and we have accused the polling station of forging results,” Kasseb told Daily News Egypt Saturday.

    Similarly, Al-Nour Party members made media statements in which they questioned the electoral process and claimed violations against party members during the elections.

    After a long meeting of the party’s higher committee Thursday discussing potential withdrawal from the elections, party president Younis Makhioun said in a press statement Thursday:

    “A systematic media campaign against the party was undertaken by state-owned and private media, even during electoral silence. Political money and bribes were used in an unprecedented manner without no measures taken by official, in addition to security ambush of Al-Nour’s candidates, leaving other candidates’ violations unpunished, which reminds us of how elections were run before the January 2011 revolution.”

    The Alexandria Administrative Court ordered the annulment of the SEC’s results in one constituency and the suspension of runoff elections in the city of Damanhour in the Beheira governorate.

    This comes due to a candidate named Mabrouk Mohamed, whose candidacy was accepted by the SEC, despite a final verdict by a criminal court against him, according to state-run media MENA on Saturday.

    As such, the court ordered the SEC to schedule new dates for elections in the constituency of Damanhour, after excluding Mabrouk from the list of candidates, who according to copies of court verdict details was given a final sentence last September, blaming the SEC’s failure to verify the candidate’s criminal record.

    Meanwhile, the SEC defended its position by stating Sunday that court verdicts issued in order to ban certain candidates were tardy, as the SEC had already printed voting cards.

    “Therefore, the SEC recurred to using posters inside polling stations informing voters about court orders, and also spread it in the media,” SEC spokesperson Omar Marwan said. Marwan added that the SEC would now re-organise electoral dates in four constituencies where results were annulled by court orders.

    However, the SEC did not mention which constituencies were concerned, but based on local news and observatory missions; those include Al-Raml in Alexandria, Damanhour in Beheira, and one constituency in Beni Suef. Moreover, the court has not set its final decision in governorates like Qena and Luxor.

    Daily News Egypt spoke to several members of civil society, including observers of the current elections, to see where they stand regarding the transparency of the first round of elections.

     

    Egypt’s will for democratic, transparent elections

     Felix Mutati of the COMESA observatory mission in Egypt said parliamentary elections were characterised by “calmness and transparency”, according to laws organising elections based on observation in six governorates, including Alexandria, Giza, Beni Suef, Beheira, Fayoum and Minya, state-run media MENA reported Sunday.

    Ayman Okeil, director of the Maat foundation and coordinator of the joint local international observatory mission, which includes the COMESA, believes that reporting electoral violations and analysing them are two different tasks.

    “While we have traced negativities in the elections, I would rather support the idea of calmness and transparency, and even said before that these elections were the closest to democracy in Egypt,” he told Daily News Egypt.

     

    Commenting on court annulments of elections in several constituencies, Okeil said he would rather look at the full half of the glass, meaning that instead of blaming the SEC for the errors, Okeil wants to encourage their correction.

    “The SEC’s abiding by court decisions proves that there is a general will for electoral transparency and no cover up for incidents that could lead to potential forgery of results,” Okeil added.

    In another example, Okeil stated that in one instance a judge was intransigent towards a member of the international observatory mission in a way that prevented her from doing her job. “But when we reported it, the Interior Ministry acted and sent security men to accompany the mission’s members, and that is what is positive in the issue,” he said.

    But Okeil admitted that taking measures against candidates was out of the SEC’s hands. “We filed complaints to the SEC; they said there was not enough evidence. We responded that it was not our job to, but they said they referred [the complaints] to the prosecution authorities,” he said.

    He said that on the other hand, that if the SEC did have authority to ban candidates based on complaints, it would question its neutrality and respect for the rights of candidates.

     

    Main problems lie in laws and legislations

    Hafez Abu Seada, president of the independent Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), also rejected general assumptions regarding electoral transparency or that the state wanted to orient voters towards a certain path.

    “Even if we take ‘For the Love of Egypt’ as an example and all the talks that surrounded the list as being endorsed by the state, we will see that the list is formed of several political parties, which make it hard to become a one voice or state-list,” Abu Seada said.

    On the other hand, he admitted there were numerous mistakes in the procedures of the elections and in the laws. According to Abu Seada, many reputable politicians were barred by heavy expenses – up to EGP 12,000 – to register as a candidate, notably the list known as Sahwet Misr, which withdrew from the elections.

    “There were many violations on several levels, varying from one’s inability to run for the elections due to elevated costs, to candidates’ exaggeration in exceeding the legal maximum expenditure on electoral campaigns,” he explained. He concluded that one must be precise in looking at overall observations before making a judgment on the transparency of the parliamentary elections.

    Abu Seada further added that parliamentary elections were affected by the change in the political situation, which resulted in the exclusion of two major forces – the Muslim Brotherhood and the former National Democratic Party (NDP).

    According to him, the overall electoral process lacked proper organisation and flexibility in the legislations, which affected the concept of equal opportunity.

     

    Violations partly contribute to lack of electoral transparency

     A recent report issued by NGO Partners for Transparency, specifically documenting parliamentary candidates’ expenditures, highlighted at least four types of infringements related to the use of political funds, in Alexandria and Fayoum.

    Those included bribing voters, not being transparent about financial amounts received, not respecting the law of having an open bank account for transactions related to elections and campaigning during periods of electoral silence.

    Partners for Transparency Director Walaa Gad said violations are part of the assessment of the transparency of the elections, but the question is “to which extent the effect is”.

    To elaborate, Gad said three major parties were responsible for the transparency of the elections: the state and its institutions, the SEC supervising the elections, and the candidates.

    “If the first two interfere with the electoral process, then there is neither freedom nor transparency in the elections,” he said. “When violations come from the candidates, it does not necessarily affect freedom of choice but to a certain degree, influences the transparency of the elections.”

    Moreover, Gad differentiated between candidates who were able to have direct influences on the results, which in that case would not be representative of people’s will, and on the other hand, violations that partly affect the results.

    In an example, Gad mentioned the Moharram Bek constituency in Alexandria. “We tracked all types of financial violations committed by candidate Mamdouh Hosny. He made it to the runoff, in second position. So in this constituency, a question mark must be raised.”

    “On the other hand, Haitham Aboul Ezz Hariry was very transparent and also made it to the runoff with the highest vote numbers. In that case, I would state that violations affected the results of that constituency by 25% to 30%,” Gad said.

    To conclude, Gad was not in favour of generalisations, especially as court verdicts ordering the repetition of elections in some constituencies were not based on “forged results”, but rather on procedural mistakes related to candidacies.

    Finally, Gad saw that political parties’ and electoral lists’ claims of non-transparency of the elections are politically driven due to losing votes, and do not stem out of legal rights, such as Nedaa Misr’s withdrawal and the Al-Nour Party’s claims.

    “For [Nedaa Misr], in Upper Egypt it was very obvious that they were not getting votes. For the second party, I would say the Al-Nour Party committed the most violations and yet is complaining,” Gad stated.

     

    Violations naturally resulted from bad electoral laws

    Lawyer Negad El-Borei believes all the violations of rules are only details in the bigger picture.

    “The problem is not about transparency; the problem is that elections were framed in a way that does not truly represent the political forces of the country,” he said.

    El-Borei gave an example of the closed-list system, which he believes squandered 49% of voters’ will, since it wins all seats by scoring 50% +1.

    “So if you want to speak about lack of transparency, it is in the design itself, which is self-interested, and therefore all violations that result are a natural turn of course, and are only minor details in comparison to the major issue,” El-Borei stated.

    El-Borei judged that the state had already planned how it wanted the elections to unfold, and undertook practices to support its wish by “putting obstacles in front of Sahwet Misr, because it included politicians that go in a different direction, or by arresting young political activists who have different opinions”.

     

  • 26% participation in first phase of parliamentary elections

    26% participation in first phase of parliamentary elections

     

    A total of 7,270,594 Egyptians voted in the first phase of parliamentary elections out of 27,402,353 registered voters.

    The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) counted 6,584,128 valid votes and 694,466 voided in total. Participation turnout was 26.5%.

    The SEC issued Wednesday the official results of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, for the first phase that took place on 17,18 and 19 October.

    The voting system is divided into two parts: closed lists systems competing for 120 seats and individual candidates, for 448 seats.

    The first phase was in 14 governorates: Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Giza, Assiut, Minya, Sohag, New Valley, Fayoum, Minya and Beni Suef. Those elect individual candidates in several constituencies in each governorate. For the lists, they are grouped under the Upper Egypt constituency, with 45 seats.

    As for the governorates of Alexandria, Beheira and Matruh, they are under the West Delta constituency, with 15 seats.

    “For the Love of Egypt” secured all 60 seats in the first phase of elections, in both constituencies, with 53.5% of votes in Upper Egypt and 58% in West Delta.

    The SEC said the New Valley governorate saw the highest turnout with 37%, while the Giza governorate ranked lowest with 21%.

    Only four winners were announced, and 2,548 other candidates will go for second round elections on individual seats in 14 governorates. Journalist and TV host Abdel Reheem Ali won a seat for the Dokki/Agouza constituency in the Giza governorate, with 59% of the votes.

    The three others were Mohamed Dessouky and Mohamed El-Basha in Assiut, and Gamal Adam in New Valley.

    There will be a run-off in all governorates’ 103 constituencies, with high competition between 2,548 candidates on individual seats, the SEC stated.

    Al-Nour Party lost in West Delta governorates, such as its Alexandria stronghold, to the “For the Love of Egypt” list headed by Sameh Seif El-Yazal. Al-Nour reacted by claiming it was affected by an “organised media sponsored campaign against it”, according to party president Younis Makhioun.

    He added that the party “aimed at cooperating with other parties but was turned down, and instead attacked despite Al-Nour’s claims to be a friend to civil forces and rejecting violence and extremism”, in a statement Thursday to Al-Mehwer TV.

    The SEC’s president Judge Ayman Abbas had earlier announced that a total of 30,531 people voted abroad, of which 28,675 votes were valid and 1,856 voided.