LCHR,s preliminary report of the parliamentary elections in Egypt

The Egyptian farmers in the parliamentary elections ask the government of the national party … where is the promised change and reform?


The Egyptian government is trying to catch up with the political and economic reform project in the region after the American initiative about reforming the Middle East. The parliamentary elections come after the amendment of the Egyptian constitution a few months ago to make it look legitimate for President Hosny Mubarak to continue as ruler of the country. As the last amendment stated that it is possible for political party representatives to nominate themselves for the position of presidency, but the binds and almost impossible conditions put in this amendment hindered them from practicing their right in participation, as it is conditioned for the candidate to receive no less than 5% of the votes of the parliament members. Here comes the importance of the parliamentary elections, as forming this parliament will play an important role in preparing the political atmosphere for the government to step toward the possible reform in the next few years despite the continue of the deterioration of the political, economic and social rights and that the parliamentary elections might not lead to the change that government is talking about.


The first round (stage) of the parliamentary elections was held in 9/11/2005, and there are still two more stages which will be held in 20/11/2005 – 1/12/2005. the elections were held in an atmosphere of cautiousness and anticipation by the majority of the political forces, as th government has promised not to interfere for the benefit of its’ candidates and allowed CSOs to monitor and supervise the lections.


The first stage was held to choose 164 deputies from about 1620 candidates who represent the different political parties, forces, trends and movements in 82 constituencies representing 8 governorates (Cairo, Giza, Monofeya, Bany Swief, Menya, Asute, Matrooh, El Wady El Gedeed)


Voters have gone to the public and branch electoral committees (10644 branch lectoral committees and 3162 electoral headquarters) to vote in 8 governorates. Despite th success of a number of the national party members, but most of the results indicate that the final decision for this stage wasn’t determined yet, as mos of the chairs will be running over again nest Tuesday.


The LCHR has received a number of initial notes and remarks by its’ delegates from the different governorates as follows:


Giza Governorate:


Monshat El Qanater:
There were a number of forge cases discovered especially for the benefit of the national party candidate “Farag El Adawy”. Who votes for him receives 20 pounds. There were advertising cards for the national party candidate inside the committees. There were wrong rolls and wrong names were repeated, in addition to that there were names of deceased people in many committees. The assistant of Farag El Adawy “Abd El Mo’ty Abdel Sabour” had 8 convictions mad forge administrational certificates with illusory names for the benefit of his boss. Farag El Adawy’s brother has made a certificate with the name of “Mustafa Salah Sobeih”  and distributed it on citizens claiming that he was excluded  from the elections to effect his chances in the elections.


Abu Ghaleb:
People were mobilized from outside the committee for the benefit of the national party candidate “Qotb Fazora”, but the rest of the committees were impartial and secure according to the reports.


El Rahawy village:
The judge has closed the committee for 2 hours claiming to chieve order among citizens, but he was just wasting time and preventing voters to enter, after that he wasted 15 minutes or more talking and disrupting the committee’s activities. Candidates of the national party paid money for women to form a collective mark on the cards for the benefit of “Qotb Fazora”. Employees of the national council have gathered voters like prisoners in front of the committees in groups of 20s waiting for their role to vote for the benefit of “Dr. Lotfy El Kholy” the independent candidate. Fingerprints were taken instead of signatures, as the fingerprint takes up 2 spaces under each other.


Bany Swief Governorate:


At the night before the elections, the local administration at the governorate has contacted village Chiefs  and Sheikhs to mobilize voters for the benefit of the national party candidates. The symbols of the independent candidates were changed several times to confuse voters, while the symbols of the national party candidates were the same and unchanged all over the country so that voters easily recognize them. Security harassments were practiced against the Brothers candidate and those who support the Muslim Brothers trend. Most of the young people and youths don’t know the location of the committees that they have to vote in. there were many mistakes in the voters names and there were names of deceased people in the lists of some committees.


El Fashn:
“Ali Abdel Fadeel” candidate of the national party has distributed money and carpets in mosques and churches and promised people with employment in the governmental agencies. The electoral tables were late and incorrect. In El Madrasa El Moshtaraka committee, the man who was sitting next to the voting box takes the cards from the voters and puts them a side not inside the box. One of the supervisors siad that citizens have confirmed that problems will increase if the candidate of the national party has won, there were some violence events and dozens were injured.


Suds village:
The day has passed quietly, there weren’t any violence actions and peope have voted for the benefit of the Muslim Brother candidate “Abdellateef Qutb” as he was from the same village. In Deroot committee, the candidate of the national party has sho the candidate of the labor party because there were disagreements and conflicts between them, the injured candidate is still in the extreme are room at the hospital.


Ahnaseya:
Votes for the candidate of the national party didn’t exceed 10% which made him fail the elecions, which have also helped in increasing violence in the area. One of the candidates of the national party ahs violated the law by advertising for himself through speakerphones on the day of the elections and inside the committee. Voters have refused to vote for the candidates of the national party , instead they were embarking upon the candidate of the Muslim Brothers “Dr. Hamdy Zahran”. In one of the committees, there were suposed to be voting for 17 candidates, but voters were surprised with only 14.


The LCHR will collect all notes, remarks and results to issue an evaluative report for the parliamentary elections. We hope that these elections be impartial and avoid violence to encourage citizens in practicing their political rights and guarantee a safer, more just and human future for everyone. and guarantee a safer, more just and human future for everyone.


For more information, please contact the Center. 
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