Civil society banned from observing elections

The Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) overruled an administrative court sentence passed on Saturday allowing civil society groups in Egypt to observe presidential elections from inside polling booths. The country's first ever contested presidential election takes place on Wednesday. This sentence was passed after a group of civil society challenged in court in August the PEC’s original decision to prevent independent monitors from observing the 7 September elections. "The committee took the decision not to implement the court sentence because the PEC, according to the constitution, has full delegation concerning the electoral process," the committee chief, Osama Attawiyah, said adding that the court has no authority to rule over this matter. Still many civil society organisations see this stance as a violation of Egyptian law. In a statement made on Monday, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) said that the PEC's stance is a crime according to Article 123 of the Penal Code, which stipulates that any public official who takes advantage of his/her authority or position to stop a court sentence from being implemented will be punished with imprisonment. "The position taken by the committee concerning the monitoring of elections raises doubts especially that all nationals including judges, political parties, syndicates, and citizens have unanimously agreed on the importance and necessity of monitoring elections by civil society organisations," the statement said. While Nasser Amin of the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP) praised the administrative court for its stance he was surprised by the PEC decision. "It is a shock that the committee that refuses to implement a court order is headed by Mamdouh Marei, head of the Supreme Constitutional Court," he said. "There is no rationale in not allowing candidates and civil society groups to be there when sorting out the votes," he added insisting that this only reflects an absence of transparency in the whole electoral process. President Hosni Mubarak has ruled Egypt over the last 24 years. In February this year, he called upon the legislative bodies to revise the constitution so as to allow, for the first time in Egyptian history, free and competitive presidential elections where the people elect a president out of a choice of more than one candidate. Previously, the parliament, which is dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), had to approve a sole candidate who then runs for a referendum by the Egyptian people. According to Amin, the problem lies within the amendment of Article 76 of the constitution which has given full authority to the PEC. "The law organising the election of the president takes its strength from Article 76 of the constitution which has given sanctity to any decision made by the elections committee. This means that the PEC is not to be questioned and its decisions should not be refuted," he said. From his side, EOHR Secretary General, Hafez Abu Saeda, said in a statement published in the independent Masry al-Youm newspaper, if the committee insists on its stance the organisation will appoint monitors to enter the polling booths as voters so as to be able to observe activity from within. "At the same time, verbal statements made by voters will be recorded as soon as they vote," he added. Meanwhile, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Bahey Eddin Hassan, has criticised government statements denying the presence of international monitors. In a statement made to the Egyptian press, Hassan confirmed that there are four international organisations, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), and Human Rights Watch (HRW), are already monitoring the whole electoral process in cooperation with local organisations. Mahmoud Aly of the Egyptian Group for Democratic Development confirmed that his association has been working with the NDI. However he denied that the NDI is monitoring the elections. "The NDI has cooperated with us only to train any interested citizen on how to monitor the elections," he said, adding that they have held eight training workshops over the last two months. From his side, Fady al-Qadi, HRW advocacy director for the Middle East, denied that the international organisation is monitoring elections. "It is not our specialisation to monitor elections. We only issued a briefing paper that observed the environment surrounding the whole electoral process," he said. Early this month, HRW issued a 13 page briefing paper, entitled "From Plebiscite to Contest? Egypt's Presidential Elections", giving a detailed overview of the whole electoral process in Egypt. "The briefing paper critically examines Egypt's new election law and the government's refusal to permit international observers or Egyptian NGOs to monitor the elections," an HRW press release said. "The NDP's dominance in all branches of government, its vast patronage network state control of electronic and major print media, more than five decades of stultifying restrictions on independent parties and political activity, and an absurdly short campaign window of three weeks make it extremely unlikely that the election on September 7 will reflect the free choice of the electorate," the briefing paper said.