In late November, a few days ahead of the first election round, a large number of protesters reoccupied Tahrir Square in Cairo, and areas in other cities, to demand the transfer of power to civilian institutions. The harsh police response to these events resulted in the death of over 33 people and the injury of over 1700 others (see http://www.fidh.org/Egyptian-Police-disproportionate), bringing more people to the streets in a common stand against current military rule. After accepting the resignation of the interim government on 22 November, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) announced the formation of national salvation and the holding of presidential elections before the end of June 2012. This is very unlikely to satisfy Egyptian protesters.
The security situation on Egyptian streets remains uncertain, and police and military violence against protesters continues in Tahrir and other cities including Alexandria and Suez. In this climate, Egypt prepares to hold its first free parliamentary elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) wishes to raise several concerns about this situation. In particular it has serious concerns about the security of polling stations, including fears of violence and clashes which might disrupt the voting process, as well as concerns about the fairness and transparency of the elections, detailed below.
A complex electoral law
Firstly, Egypt’s electoral law is complex and a lack of awareness campaigns for citizens may well impede their meaningful participation in the most important democratic process in Egyptian modern history.
50 political parties are running for Parliamentary election, comprising 590 lists and 6,591 individuals nationwide.
The election is divided into three rounds, with possible re-votes. The first round is to be held on 28 November 2011, where residents of Cairo, Fayoum, Luxour, Port Said, Damietta, Alexandria, Kafr El Sheikh, Asyuit, and the Red Sea will vote. If there is a re-vote then it will be held on 5 December 2011. The second round will be held on 14 December 2011, for residents of Giza, Beni Seouif, Monofeya, Sharkeya, Ismailiya, Suez, Beheira, Sohag, and Aswan. Any re-vote will be held on 21 December 2011. The third and final round for the elections will be held on 3 January 2012, where residents of Minya, Qaliobeya, Gharbeia, Dakhleya, North Sinai, South Sinai, New Valley, Matrouh, and Qena will take the ballot; a re-vote, if needed, will be held on 10 January 2012. The final results should be announced no later than 13 January 2012.
The new parliament will be composed of 428 representatives, half of whom will be farmers and workers. The electoral system is divided into two sections: 2/3 of seats will be designated to closed-lists, and the remaining 1/3 of seats to individuals. The list-based section is composed of 46 constituencies whereas the individual-based section is composed of 83 constituencies. According to the High Electoral Commission (HEC) the constituencies are divided according to the number of voters in each area. Also, any seat won by a governorate in past elections cannot be taken away from it, while in some instances, some seats were added to governorates. Every constituency has to include in every electoral district the appropriate number of units of the full administrative entity. Voters have to choose one list from the list-based sets, and two from the individual-based list, one of whom must be either a laborer or farmer.
The number of candidates included in any list must be two thirds (2/3) of the number specified for the constituency; of which half must be workers/farmers. There must be at least one woman candidate in every list; however her position in the list does not matter. Each list must include candidates from more than one party.
The Supreme Council of Armed Forces has issued a law to allow Egyptians abroad to vote in the upcoming elections for the Parliament and the Shura Council, as well as the Presidential elections. 50 million Egyptians are eligible to vote, according to Justice Abdel Moez Ibrahim, chairman of the Higher Electoral Commission (HEC), which oversees the electoral process.
The High Electoral Commission (HEC)
The HEC has the mandate to determine polling stations and vote-counting centers, lay down the rules for preparing voter lists, make proposals for electoral district boundaries and set the rules regulating campaigning. In practice, however, it lacks the human and financial resources to implement its mandate. As a result, and due to the complexity of the new electoral law, the upcoming parliamentary elections may witness the Ministry of the Interior taking a dominant role in administering the electoral process, thus repeating the scenario of the 2010 elections, which were widely condemned for being marred by fraud (See http://www.fidh.org/Parliamentary-elections-Egyptian-comedy-against).
The Election Monitoring
Secondly, despite the HEC’s obvious lack of human and financial resources to fulfill its mandate, local and international civil society organizations will not be allowed to monitor the electoral process. These agencies are only permitted to “watch” the elections, which means that they have no authority to present reports directly to the HEC. All reports submitted by these organizations as observers will have to be coordinated with the National Council for Human Rights in order to be accepted by the Commission.
Several Egyptian NGOs will nevertheless observe the elections, including FIDH member organizations the Cairo Institute for Human Rights and the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, both leading monitoring coalitions of local NGOs.
In addition, an international presence should be ensured as the Carter Center, the Electoral Reform International Services and 17 other international groups have been allowed to observe the forthcoming election. About 9,000 judges will supervise the vote, with at least one judge in each polling station, according to Justice Youssri Abdullah, a member of the Electoral Commission. Journalists will need to seek permission from the Press Syndicate through their commissioning newspapers in order to cover the electoral process.
Former NDP member allowed to run as candidates
Thirdly, FIDH is dismayed by the Supreme Administrative Court decision issued on 14 November 2011, to allow members of the banned National Democratic Party (NDP) [1] to run in the upcoming elections despite their proven history of fraud in previous ballots. FIDH recalls that the NDP has sustained its uncontested power since its establishment of one-party rule in a multi-party system, which allowed it to maintain the emergency law and pass a large number of repressive laws in Egypt over the last 30 years.
This decision opens the door to having a significant number of former NDP members being elected, as independent candidates, in the next parliament, thus reviving or retaining a system of nepotism and corruption as well as granting immunity to alleged perpetrators of serious human rights violations under Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
Finally, FIDH is concerned about the security of polling stations during the elections in light of the current situation in Tahrir where protestors have been under constant attack from the security forces and thugs since the afternoon of Saturday 19th November 2011.