By Nasser Amin Egypt's parliamentary elections, the first to be held following the amendment of Article 76 of the constitution, continue to be the focus of international attention. The results of the elections effectively determine who will be able to stand in the next presidential poll, since under the amendment presidential candidates must have the support of 250 elected officials, including 65 members of the People's Assembly and 25 Shura Council members. It is essential, therefore, for the parliamentary elections to pass without any incidents of fraud. The Higher Elections Committee, led by the justice minister, has adopted measures to guarantee the probity of elections. The poll is being held in three stages, with Egyptian civil society organisations monitoring the vote. Ballots are placed inside transparent boxes, and voters are required to dip their fingers in phosphoric ink to ensure that no one can vote twice. It is full judicial supervision of the poll, though, that provides the most important guarantee that the elections will be free and fair. Yet while the Higher Elections Committee and the government have repeatedly said elections will be subject to judicial supervision some of the names on the supervisors' lists are of regular employees of the judicial agencies. These people lack the stature and independence of judges. The Constitutional Court, the Judges' Club and civil society groups want supervision confined to judges, of whom there are 8,000. Given the elections are being held in three stages this is certainly enough to supervise the 3,000 polling stations used during each stage. Let us stop using non-judges and put everybody's mind at ease. It is essential the conduct of parliamentary elections be above reproach. Everyone must be confident that all possible measures have been taken to ensure the probity of the vote. These are the most important elections in living memory. Let us make sure no rigging, fraud or irregularities take place. This week's Soapbox speaker is a lawyer and director of the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession.
