Rigging the 2010 Parliamentary Elections in Egypt

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Forum of Independent Human Rights NGOs

Rigging the 2010 Parliamentary Elections in Egypt

 

Press Release

The Forum of Independent Human Rights Organizations  is sorry to announce to the public opinion that the consecutive signals it is receiving only confirms the lack of the necessary political will to organize free and fair parliamentary elections on 28 November. The Egyptian authorities are posing restrictions on the individual’s right to run for elections in addition to the voters’ right to access the necessary information relating to the electoral process, and the stances and tendencies of the candidates and different political groups. The authorities are hindering the supervision of the elections independent of state authorities and the ruling party and are restricting civil society from monitoring the elections, in addition to banning international monitoring as well.

 

The unprecedented climate of intimidation created by the authorities within printed and visual media, especially in independent media; the escalating violent crackdown on the right to peaceful assembly and political participation; and the effective limitation of the campaigning period to only one week are indeed signs that the coming elections will not meet the international standards for free and fair elections. Rather, they offer implications that the elections will be based on legislative and constitutional corruption, with the existence of tight administrative and executive control. This confirms that the forging of the will of the voters has started early for this election.

 

The electoral process and candidate registration:

– The law has given wide powers to the Ministry of Interior, limiting the powers of the Supreme Electoral Commission by denying the latter from its main role in supervising and managing the electoral process. For example the Supreme Electoral Commission is denied supervision of electoral rolls; announcement of the election dates; candidate registration; and specifying electoral constituencies. In addition the law denies the commission from clear mechanisms empowering it to implement its decisions in appointing officers to manage the electoral process. This has led to the domination of the Ministry of Interior over the electoral process being.

–  Candidate registration was only open for five days intersected by a weekend. This stood in the way of prospect candidates from issuing requested official documents, especially that documents needed for registration was left to each security directorate to specify without any coordination or prior announcement.
 
–  Candidate registration applications did not specify the number of documents needed. Additionally, the receipt for receiving the application used the vague statement: “… attached (number) of documents for candidate registration and it was received.” This opens the door for administrative interventions to consider some of the application to be lacking the necessary documents.

– The final list of candidates will be announced a day before the Adha Feast, thus preventing rejected applicants from appealing in a timely manner before the election date.

– Electoral campaigning will officially start on 14 November, which will immediately be followed by the Adha Feast for five days.

– Restrictions were imposed on independent candidates from the Muslim Brotherhood and those who dissented from the National Democratic Party.

– Restrictions were imposed on local monitors preventing them from entering some of the candidate registration headquarters in a number of governorates. In some instances, monitors were daily detained for a number of hours.

– Threats were made to remove the legal protection of some of the monitoring organizations.

 

Freedom of expression and the right to exchange information during elections:

– TV channels were banned from live broadcasting from the streets of Egypt until new permits are issued by the Radio and Television Union.

– The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority issued a decision imposing new regulations on marketing and news SMS services. The seriousness of this decision lies in the fact that SMS services have become the main source of information. Any new restrictions on it will only restrict the flow of information between the sender and the receiver. In addition, this has become an important tool for electoral campaigning and for coordination between election monitors.

– The Egyptian Nilesat Satellite Company, managed by the Egyptian government, issued a number of decisions during October to cease the broadcasting of 17 channels, while issuing warnings against a number of other channels. The reason stated was to limit the dissemination of sectarian tension. While the Forum denounces and rejects religious based hate speech, it observes that these decisions were made without any prior warning and were not issued by a court; especially that governmental media has not ceased to broadcast religious hatred. This decision and the overthrowing of Ibrahim Eissa, Chief Editor of Al-Dostor Newspaper – one of the most independent and critical newspapers  –  have only led to intensifying the climate of fear in all forms of media.

– Some programs known to criticize the government have been stopped, such as the closure of the studios broadcasting “Cairo Today” program on Orbit Channels and the dismissal of Ibrahim Eissa from presenting “Baladna Bel Masry” (Our Country in Egyptian), on ONTV Channel.

– The head of the Supreme Electoral Commission was banned from making further press statements following interviews with Al Wafd and Al-Shorouk Newspapers, where he revealed that the commission does not possess any legal powers or the necessary capacities to supervise the elections and thus is forced to depend on the Ministry of Interior. 

 

Exerting pressure on civil society:

– The Ministry of Social Solidarity continues to pursue human rights organizations and intimidate them by sending indirect threats. In addition, the security authorities continue to intervene in decisions of NGO registrations.

– The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned some representatives of international organizations, which had applied to open headquarters in Egypt, and threatened them to reject their applications if they continue to expose and publicized human rights violations in Egypt, particularly during the time of elections.

– Throughout the months of October and November, security authorities have continued to harass Arab and foreign human rights defenders while entering the country by stopping and questioning them at the airport. Even those who were officially invited by the National Council for Human Rights were targeted.

– The authorities banned a meeting organized by the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) on the day it was meant to be held, despite prior permission to hold the meeting. In addition official meetings with a German parliamentary delegation were cancelled.

 

The right to peaceful assembly and political participation:

– Security authorities are increasingly violent against peaceful protests and assemblies, especially those demanding change, end to torture and impunity, and labor strikes. Protesters are physically attacked, detained, and later released in isolated areas on the margins of the cities. Some of those detained were brutally beaten in a life threatening manner.

– Security authorities are resorting to “thugs” to physically attack members of reform movements. This was the case with the members of the 9 March movement for the independence of universities in Ain Shams University on Thursday 4 November.

– Security authorities continue its campaign of arrest and detention of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other political activists across the country. In addition it has kidnapped non-Islamist political activists and held them in unidentified places without pressing charges or referring them to the prosecutor.

The current scene seems bleak when considering what happened with the elections of the student unions in Egyptian universities. While the student union elections are less important than the parliamentary elections, still the authorities have excluded candidates affiliated to opposition political movements, manipulated the electoral process, and resorted to the excessive use of force against protesting students.

 

 

  The Forum is a coalition of 16 independent human rights organizations. This statement was released in a press conference for the Forum, held on 9 November 2010 at the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) head office.

 

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