Indicators on the election day for municipal elections

First:

The election process for municipalities; and administrative and security interference of the executive authority bodies since nomination until the declaration of results, rendered elections meaningless.  88% of seats succeeded by uncontested elections, whereas 44000 seats of a total number of 52000 seats.  Effective elections run on 8000 seats among which 1100 seats represent opposition parties following the withdrawal of Moslem Brotherhood; and 6900 seats represent NDP candidates including 400 NDP independent candidates, i.e. the National Democratic Party seized more than 95% of all municipal seats, which means that there was no elections in the first place, as elections mean competition and equality of rules governing this competition.  Numbers do not lie!!

Second:

Participation doesn’t exceed 1%, and any raised percentage in participation published by the elections’ supervisors is a virtual figure that will increase due to the phenomenon of blackening opinion cards practiced by the NDP agents and candidates, and employees supervising ballots, especially after the executive authority got rid of the judicial supervision over elections after the last constitutional amendments.

Third:

The phenomenon of buying votes, offering financial bribes and gifts in-kind was rare, and it just appeared in slums and poor areas.  Bribes didn’t exceed 20 LE or the distribution of some provisions to electors.  It is not indicating the disappearance of such phenomenon, as candidates of the ruling party have already decided that they don’t need the support of electors, there are no competitors, elections results are already decided through the interference of administrative and security bodies of the executive authority, which are scandalously biased in favor of the ruling party.

Fourth:

As usual, security bodies have run alone the election day; they were present inside and outside ballot stations; controlled access to ballot stations; denied access to monitors of civil society organizations, media and international press agencies representatives, some candidates and voters without any rational reason.   Despite the fact that elections were contested by 88% of seats, and elections running in some constituencies don’t have real competition, security authorities are used to this behavior as they consider ruling election process is an inalienable right whereas they allow or deny whoever they want.

Fifth:

In these elections, some phenomena occurred repeatedly, which became a usual behavior in all elections in Egypt such as (mistakes in voters’ lists, trials to collective mobilization to vote, police in plain clothes denying access to opposition candidates into ballot stations).  

Sixth:

The attitude of the Supreme Commission for Elections and the National Council for Human Rights is unjustified and isn’t understood as they secretly authorized some civil society organizations to monitor elections against ignoring the Democratic Watch request and other organizations to monitor elections for not being subject to the executive authority tyranny.   The Supreme Commission for Elections doesn’t exist, we never heard about, and does not participate in any of the municipal elections phases.  Many times, in its releases, the Watch called the Supreme Commission for Elections to appear and to interfere, but it didn’t respond.  We tried to reach its headquarters, but we never found it, then suddenly, we were surprised by declarations published in national newspapers that the Supreme Commission for Elections authorized monitors of civil society organizations to monitor elections, hence, we thanked God that the Commission exists!!    

On the 18th of March 2008, we have requested the National Council for Human Rights to help us to issue authorizations to our monitors, to investigate violations against our monitors during the nomination phase.  On the 23rd of March 2008, the Commission has stated, without a specific answer, that it gives necessary importance to our publications, in this concern, it would like to receive all our publications, reports and topics on the municipal elections, but it didn’t answer our request.   On the election day, we were surprised by press statements that the Commission has authorized civil society organization to monitor municipal elections without mentioning reasons, conditions and way of submitting papers, which is an unjustified attitude opening the door for discussion about how the Supreme Commission for Election and the National council for Human Rights manage their work and how the executive authority and its bodies intervenes their works.

Seventh:

The behavior of the executive authority and its bodies and ruling party that rule the election process is unjustified; violations accompanied these elections have undoubtedly harmed the human rights file and the democratic development in Egypt; any executive authority speech on free and integer elections became meaningless.  Any one watching the behavior of the executive authority, its bodies and ruling party will never understand why they fabricated such bad scenario on badly ruling elections.  The law of local administration system didn’t give municipalities any authority, and gave the right to executive authority to dissolve these municipalities. In case, the executive authority fears the Moslem Brothers’ competition and that they have a percentage in these elections allowing them to present a candidate for the presidential elections, this behavior is not justified as the Brotherhood didn’t have any seat in Shura Council elections in order to present a candidate.  Besides, all national forces including the Moslem Brotherhood declared before nomination that they are satisfied to present 5000 candidates, which does not exceed the 10% of the total number of seats, supposing that they will sweep all seats.  So what is the reason justified by the executive authority to exercise all these violations, especially it is fully responsible for ruling the election day and issuing results after assigning supervision to its employees.  What is the justification for such violations that harmed the State’s file in the field of human rights.  This is a question that we try to answer.  

Finally, we could say that the executive authority and its party have designated people and local councils, and what occurred was just an unpleasant play to prove that democratic elections have happened.  The fact is there were neither elections nor democracy, but a designation in an electoral framework that could not convince even a child.

Democratic Watch