• May 30, 2006
  • 3 minutes read

MB candidates Reveal Violations During Chamber of Commerce Elections

MB candidates Reveal Violations During Chamber of Commerce Elections

During a press conference, the MB candidates for the Chamber of Commerce revealed many violations committed by the government during the latest elections in Alexandria.  


Saber Abu Al Fotouh, a member of the MB parliamentary bloc, confirmed that the extensive police presence and preventing the merchants from voting in the elections; are nothing but an implementation of the Prime Minister’s statement that the government will prevent the MB from forming a bloc in future elections. With these latest violations during the Chamber’s elections, government has lost the opportunity to improve its tarnished image before the world.


Mahmoud Attia, a member of the MB parliamentary bloc, denoted that the elections were to evaluate the performance of the unfruitful and corrupt government, which is unable to manage such elections. They barbarically dealt with the innocent merchants and closed all the shops and companies near the polling station, preventing even the public from approaching the premises of the Chamber of Commerce. He also asserted that what happened that day is an example of what will happen in the upcoming Customs’ elections.


Mohammed Zewail- MB candidate to the Chamber of Commerce- stated that there were 400 persons from outside Alexandria inside the voting HQ since 4:00 am that morning. They were carrying blank authorization forms to vote for the pro-government’s list. These authorizations were illegal because they were not authenticated and were not sealed by the COC. 


At the end of the press conference,the MB candidates issued a statement, asserting that the government ran the elections under the motto of “officer for every ballot box” and turned the Chamber of the Commerce district into a barrack titled “no rapprochement or photo”. The security forces put restrictions on everybody except those on the government’s ballot and their supporters with the blank authorizations. The statement asserted that the security carried out the most heinous violations and crimes on the Sunday’s elections. The voters were prevented from casting their ballots and forced out the candidates’ authorized agents and representatives from the voting stations 


On another front, the Freedoms Committee of the Journalists Syndicate in Alexandria denounced restricting the journalists from covering the elections and sealing off Al Raml station square, consequently preventing the journalists from carrying out their mission. The committee confirmed that such actions are against the constitution and laws which regarded the media as monitoring power by the people to protect the interests of the country.