Although judges supervised yesterday's final run-off, they vowed to step up their battle with the state if any electoral violations take place. Mona El-Nahhas investigates During a stormy Sunday evening meeting at the Cairo Judges Club headquarters, the club's board called upon judges to leave the polling stations they would be monitoring in today's run-offs if any electoral violations take place. The club's main concerns were voters being intimidated and banned from casting their votes. Most judges wanted the club to take a firmer stance. Before the meeting, hundreds had lobbied the club's board in an attempt to push through a decree exempting judges from supervising the run-off round altogether, on account of the state's failure to abide by pledges it had made to guarantee that voting would be free of fraud. The dissenting judges said they had lost faith in the government after none of the electoral guarantees ordained by the Parliamentary Electoral Commission (PEC) were actually put into effect. Judges Club Chairman Zakareya Abdel-Aziz tried his best to calm the angry judges, vowing that, if more violations took place during the run-off, the club's reply would be very harsh. "I swear to God that if the electoral guarantees are not in place," Abdel-Aziz said, "our reaction will surprise everyone." Although he refused to provide specifics, the club's next general assembly takes place on 16 December; expectations are that the judges will decide to refrain from supervising any future elections unless they are given full control over the entire electoral process. "I was forced to use a forged voters list," said Mohamed Youssef, a deputy chairman at the Administrative Prosecution Authority who described the rigging that took place at the auxiliary poll station in El-Beheira's Mahmoudiya constituency that he was supervising. Youssef said he was ready to submit his resignation and hold a sit-in at the club's headquarters until the violations that took place were properly investigated. Youssef was one of several judges who were assaulted while doing their job. His testimony came in the wake of the uproar caused by judicial monitor Noha El-Zeini, who revealed that election results at the constituency she was supervising in Damanhour were rigged in favour of prominent NDP candidate Mustafa El-Fiqi, after his rival, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Gamal Heshmat, was first declared the winner. During Sunday's two-hour meeting, judges criticised the PEC for failing to abide by its word; they also asked that the ministers of interior and justice submit their resignations. Essam Hussein, an assistant to the justice minister, was in attendance. His speech -- filled with platitudes about fair elections and the minister's appreciation of the judges' role -- was interrupted by judges who were angry about his being there in the first place, and mistrustful of the PEC itself, which he represents. Before the third and final stage of elections began, the justice minister -- in his capacity as the head of the PEC -- had met with representatives from different judges clubs and pledged that voting would henceforth be free of any electoral violations. The guarantees cited by the minister included providing each judge in charge of supervising auxiliary polling stations with two copies of the voters' lists, as a safeguard against the lists being replaced in the run-offs, which happened during the second stage. Judges were also supposed to be given an official record of the vote- count at each polling station, so that it could not be changed later. The results should also have been announced using loudspeakers at auxiliary polling stations. Judges should also have been allowed to monitor the situation outside polling stations to ensure that policemen and thugs do not stop people from casting their votes. None of these guarantees actually took place, and last week's voting featured the same kinds of electoral irregularities that marked the first two stages. Police, using tear gas and brandishing sticks stopped voters from going into polling stations to cast their ballots. Roads leading to the stations were cordoned off and blocked. At several polling stations, judges were actually attacked and detained, which resulted in some judges completely shutting down their stations and halting the voting process.
