Egyptian Legislative Elections, FJP Press Release No. (22)

Egyptian Legislative Elections, FJP Press Release No. (22)

 Cairo: 15/December/2011 – 12 noon (10:00GMT)

The second day of the second phase of the Egyptian People’s Assembly elections began with varying numbers of voters turning out, huge crowds at some polling stations, while some others remained relatively quiet.
The following is an account of the most important events of this second election day, so far:
First, Polling Stations:
* The electoral process started well in most polling stations, while there were delays in opening the doors to voters in a number of stations, because supervising judges and / or candidate representatives arrived late. Most began voting activities, at a later time.
Second, The Electoral Process:
* Jamal Abu Awad, a member of the People’s Assembly for the dissolved National Party in 2010 and a candidate for the "Reform and Development" party in Atfeih (Giza governorate), attacked candidate representatives at Fahmyin Primary School, and attacked women voters, beating them in the polling stations 1026 to 1029, after refusing to give him their votes.
* Hassan Nafe’a, a member of the People’s Assembly for the dissolved National Party in 2010 and a candidate for the "Reform and Development" party in Atfeih (Giza), attacked FJP in polling stations 1169 and 1176 at Abdel Fattah Azzam Institute, and assaulted one of the female representatives. Attempts by the polling station chief, and members of the military securing the place, to calm and control him were unsuccessful.
* A number of polling station chiefs at Jihad School, in Imbaba (Giza governorate) are directing a large number of voters to sign in two identical ballot registry books in the same polling station! This raises serious questions about the reasons for that. Will one of those be used during the run-off phase?!
* There are still unacceptable and unlawful actions by some judges who interfere by influencing the will of the electorates in voting stations, with some explicitly asking people to vote for specific election lists, as happened in polling stations 402 and 403 at Irfan and Barakat schools, in Abu Hommos (Beheira governorate), where the chairman of polling stations openly directed voters to go for the Nour party candidate list. This led to a crisis with the voters who rejected this directive.
* The chairman of polling stations 558 and 559 at Zawyat Naim Primary School, in Abu Hommos, personally voted in favour of the Wafd Party, and then gave free rein to the school superintendent and the chief of the village, both are remnants of the defunct National Party, to instruct voters at the polling stations to vote for candidates of the remnants.
* The chairman of polling station 511 at the Department of Health in the Faris village (Aswan governorate) instructing the electorate to vote for the Wafd Party candidate list, taking advantage of their illiteracy, although they expressed their wish to vote other candidate lists. When a number of these voters discovered that, they demanded their right to vote – for the FJP. Then, the said chairman scratched off the Wafd icon, and ticked the ‘Scale’ icon on the same ballot paper, which automatically renders the ballot invalid.
Third, Media Performance:
* The FJP renews its call for some satellite TV channels, owned by a number of businessmen, both from our competitors in elections or those who continue to have links to the dubious interests of the corrupt former regime and are still eager to serve its objectives in derailing the Egyptian revolution through deliberate disruption of the electoral process. Those are increasingly showing their hatred of the FJP, of all patriotic citizens in this country, the FJP renews its call for them to commit to objectivity, not to distort the civilized image of this democratic climate, to stop airing their venom within the community, to stop their deliberate and persistent distortion of the Freedom and Justice party, to respect the choices of voters, and not to show that these are random choices based on ignorance or immaturity. The FJP confirms that it monitors media abuses and violations, and is considering the most appropriate legal approach to respond during the election period.