Three civil society organizations that are already involved in monitoring the upcoming presidential elections have recently decided to bring an immediate suit before the Administrative court against the Chairman of Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) who previously denied them the right to participate in monitoring elections.
The decision came during a joint meeting convened in the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS). The meeting involved representatives of the Independent Egyptian Commission for Monitoring the Elections (IECME), the National Campaign for Monitoring the Elections ( NCME) and the Civil Coalition for Monitoring the Elections (CCME).
The three organizations previously submitted several letters to the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice and the Chairman of PEC asking for their co-operation and co-ordination during monitoring the imminent presidential elections. Nevertheless, they received no response. The situation reached more deterioration when the Chairman of (PEC) proclaimed in Al-Masry Al-Yom newspaper (August 16th) that he would not allow any form of election Monitoring. The announcement will expectedly raise a lot of skepticism about the extent of transparency of the upcoming presidential elections .It infringes on one of the key international criteria for having an impartial public election. The announcement has actually come to add to the deteriorating situation followed the regime’s refusal to authorize International Institution to observe the upcoming presidential elections.
The three organizations have also sternly denounced latest statement made by the Chairman of PEC that “judges can never be subjected to surveillance practiced by Rights Organizations”. The statement attempted to drive a wedge between the judges and Human Rights organizations. It bypassed the fact that the Egyptian judges have never shown a sign of objection towards Human Rights organizations that used monitored political trials. The statement also overlooked the previous statements and declarations made by the Judges’ Club that push and urged for the involvement of Rights Organizations in monitoring the elections.
Hence, in an attempt to confront potential violations to universal and international standards for holding free and fair elections, the participant organizations decided to enhance dialogue and co-ordination among them.
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