Should Article 88 be amended to limit judicial supervision of elections then the poll should be internationally monitored, say judges. Mona El-Nahhas reports During a conference held at the judges' river-side club this week, attended by opposition figures, legal experts and independent MPs, judges repeated their rejection of proposed amendments to 34 constitutional articles which, they said in a statement, "the state intends to push through against the will of the nation." All the assembled agreed the aim behind the amendments was to make it easier for the state to rig elections and fabricate the will of the people. In a U- turn on their position last year judges called for elections to be subjected to international monitoring should proposals to restrict full judicial supervision of the poll be passed. In the run- up to the December 2005 parliamentary elections judges had opposed international monitoring on the grounds that it would open the door to foreign intervention in domestic affairs. "Judges were naïve when they thought in such a way. Many countries now allow foreign monitoring," said Mahmoud El-Khodeiri, chairman of the Alexandria Judges' Club, during the conference. In a country where officials accept rigging as the norm, argued El-Khodeiri, there is no other choice except "to press for foreign monitoring to protect our rights and freedoms from being usurped". In the wake of 2005's presidential and parliamentary polls, conducted under full judicial supervision, judges who exposed cases of rigging have been subjected to punitive measures in what is seen as a vindictive campaign by state officials. Realising that tactic will not work, argue reformist judges, the government has now decided to curtail the role of judges in supervising the vote, hence the proposal to amend Article 88 of the constitution. Prior to 2005, the role of judges was limited to manning main polling stations, leaving thousands of smaller stations in the direct control of the security apparatus. That, ruled the Supreme Constitutional Court in 2000, contravened Article 88 of the constitution, which stipulates full judicial supervision. "They now think it better to get rid of Article 88 altogether to enable the ruling NDP to tighten its grip on power," argues El-Khodeiri. According to official statements, the aim behind amending Article 88 is to preserve the dignity of judges. During last year's elections numerous incidents were reported of judges being verbally, and in some cases physically, abused while attempting to exercise their duties at polling stations. "But the dignity of judges was not harmed in the least. Quite the opposite, we won the support of the public due to our stand during the poll," says judge Ahmed Mekki. Officials have also cited the limited number of judges as a reason why they should be restricted to supervising only the main polling stations. The judges' counter argument is that elections be held over several days, with a reduced number of branch polling stations. During their last general assembly, held at the Cairo Judges' Club in November, judges threatened to boycott future polls should Article 88 be amended to limit their role in overseeing elections. It is a boycott, though, that Mekki feels will not hold, and the state will have little trouble finding 500 out of 13,000 judges to man the main polling stations. Reformist judge Hesham Bastawisi agrees with Mekki. "The amendment will allow the government to ask the help of judges who are ready to lend legitimacy to rigged elections," he says. Even if the amendment to Article 88 is endorsed, Bastawisi believes judges' clubs will continue to monitor elections and expose rigging before the Egyptian public and world opinion.
