Observatory for following up the parliamentary elections “Egypt 2015” affiliated to the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights

The first statement for the first day of the second round run-off

Maat: Violating propaganda, late opening of some committees, and electoral bribes in the Sahel are the most prominent of what has been monitored

 

Time: Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Observers of the Parliamentary Election Observatory “Egypt 2015” have started For the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human RightsIn field deployment in “91” departments of the total constituencies of the first phase of the Egyptian parliamentary elections, which represent 92 % of the number of constituencies, in order to follow the run-off in this phase, where 1034 observers participate in the follow-up process in the various target governorates, namely the governorates of Cairo, Qalyubia and Menoufia , Dakahlia, Kafr El Sheikh, Gharbia, Sharkia, Damietta, and Port Said, North Sinai.

During the first hours of the first day of the run-off round, the Parliamentary Election Observatory was concerned with monitoring the timing of the opening of the committees and the start of the voting process, as well as monitoring the conditions surrounding the electoral process in the governorates covered by the follow-up.

Our observers have monitored the stability of insurance rates in the polling sites that were visited so far, and no events that might affect the safety and ease of voting operations and the voters' access to the polling stations have been monitored.

In the same context, the security forces dealt with our observers well, except for one case that was monitored in Cairo Governorate, the Al-Khalifa constituency. When the delegation of the international mission arrived at the polling station at Omar bin Abdul Aziz School in Al-Khalifa, a security personnel arrested the delegation in front of the committee and asked the translator to go to the headquarters The chief of the investigations of Caliph Muhammad Salam, who is about 500 meters away from the headquarters of the committee and the translator went to him, and upon his arrival, the chief of investigations spoke in a strong and sharp tone to the translator, and asked him to bring the delegation to the headquarters of the head of the investigations, so the translator told him that he had follow-up permits and showed The permits were given to the head of the investigations, but he refused to see them, and insisted that the delegation come to him, so the translator informed him that he would leave the committee and go to another committee, but in the end he corrected the situation and allowed them to enter. The Ministry of Interior operations room has been contacted, which has shown good cooperation, and the matter is under investigation.

Regarding the opening of polling stations on time, the commitment of the vast majority of polling stations to open their doors to the voters was monitored at full time nine in the morning, except for a few committees that were not late to open from 15 to 60 minutes, and they included:

1. Cairo Governorate / City of Peace District: Fatima Al Zahraa Primary School - Committee No. 16 - The opening of the committee was delayed until 9:15 am
2. Kafr El Sheikh Governorate \ Kafr El Sheikh District \ Al-Qarda Primary School \ The committee did not open until 9:15 am.
3. Qalubia Governorate / Shubra El-Kheima First District / Muhammad Metwally Al-Shaarawi Preparatory School / The committees were opened at 9.22 am.
4. Gharbia Governorate / Kafr El-Zayat District / Dilbashan Preparatory New School / Committee 32: The opening of the committee was delayed until 9:20 am.
5. Sharkia Governorate / Zagazig City / Al-Aslouji Preparatory School / Committee 198 The committee was opened at 9:30

The body supervising the electoral process was present at an early date in the vast majority of polling stations, and the delay of the committee’s chairman or one of its employees was not observed in very few cases, the most prominent of which was in the Gharbia Governorate / Al-Santa Center District / Tata Joint Commercial Secondary School of the 80/81 Committee which The judges did not attend it until 9:50 am, and the advisors for Jan 4-5 at Al Masa’a Preparatory School in Quesna, Moufia Governorate, were late until 10.10 am, and the two committees did not open until that time.

With regard to the turnout for the voting process during the first two hours of polling day in the run-off round of the second stage, some districts witnessed a high turnout, while others witnessed a decrease in the turnout rate compared to the first round, and in general the turnout cannot be assessed in the first hours of the voting process.

In a different context, the observers of the Parliamentary Election Observatory observed that some of the candidates' supporters made propaganda in front of the polling stations and directed the voters to choose a specific candidate, the most prominent of which was: -

Damietta Governorate - Damietta District - Srour Square Street - The supporters of “Candidate Abdo Al-Awadi” mobilized voters to support and elect him to the electoral commissions

And in Cairo governorate - the Coast District - Al Salam Commercial School Committee - it was observed that supporters of candidate Amr El Gohary bought votes on Jisr El Bahr Street, next to Al Salam Commercial School, and called on the tuktuk for the candidate and instructed the voters.