The Presidential Elections Commission comes under attack as the campaigns heat up, reports Gamal Essam El-Din While last week the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) was busy fielding complaints that campaign rules were being violated, this week the commission found itself at the centre of the storm as the Judges Club, NGOs that had hoped to be allowed to monitor the elections and presidential candidates all voiced criticisms of its performance. The rumbling dispute between the commission and the Judges' Club -- the de facto union for Egypt's judges -- erupted following a series of statements allegedly made by PEC Chairman Mamdouh Marie. Marie was reported to have said that citizens "are free to use or not use phosphorus ink when voting" and that there was "no need to curtain off voting booths". It was also reported that Marie had ordered that agents of candidates be barred from the count in both auxiliary and primary polling stations. Reports of Marie's statements provoked a sharp response from both the Judges' Club and NGOs seeking to monitor the presidential elections. According to the Judges Club and the Arab Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (ACIJC), Marie's statements contradict last month's law regulating presidential elections. "The law," said ACIJC's manager Mohamed Amin, "makes it obligatory for voters to dip a finger in phosphorus ink to ensure that they cannot vote twice within 24 hours." In response to the attacks PEC spokesman Osama Atawiya said Marie had been widely misquoted. In his meeting with senior judges on 16 August Atawiya said that Marie had told them that "voters are free not to use phosphorus ink, in which case they will be banned from voting". The commission, Atawiya added, had already asked the Ministry of Interior to ensure that supplies of the ink be sufficient to cover all 32 million registered voters. Ghad candidate Ayman Nour revealed that he had requested that the commission inform candidates of the name of the supplier of the phosphorus ink so they can check "that it cannot be erased within 24 hours". Atawiya sought to reassure judges that the counting of votes would take place in both main and auxiliary polling stations -- there had been rumours that the count would be restricted to the main stations, necessitating the transport of ballot boxes -- and that voting booths would be fully curtained. Atawiya also emphasised that candidates' agents were welcome at the count and that the commission had already asked candidates to provide a list of agents in each governorate. Atawiya also underlined the commission's decision to reduce the number of auxiliary polling stations from 54,000 to 9,739. The change was necessary, he said, "to ensure that the 13,000 available judges be able to cover all polling stations". That the commission has announced NGOs will not be allowed to monitor the poll has caused anger among the 34 groups that say they have already requested permission to do so. Mansour Amer, deputy chairman of parliament's Human Rights Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the ban on NGO monitoring reflected "a crisis of confidence between NGOs and the commission". The commission, Amer continued, believes that judicial supervision of the vote will be enough to ensure its integrity and remains loath to condone any monitoring role for NGOs, many of which have obtained US funding. "The solution," believes Amer, "is that in terms of NGO monitoring the commission should coordinate with the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR)" which would in turn coordinate with independent NGOs to ensure that both monitor the elections in a way acceptable to the commission. Atawiya denied reports that the commission had received requests from NGOs seeking to monitor the elections and said he was unaware of any planned coordination between the NCHR and PEC. The PEC's main aim, he said, is to ensure the transparency and integrity of the elections to which end "the commission has published detailed guidelines of the responsibilities of judges entrusted with supervising the elections." In order to ensure that all necessary arrangements are in place, he revealed, judges will take charge of polling stations and their immediate surroundings on 6 September, one day before the elections. The commission also warned NGOs against conducting opinion polls in the final week of the election. The commission has also been criticised for failing to prevent continued bias in the state-run media in favour of the incumbent, Hosni Mubarak. Wafdist MP Mohamed Abdel-Alim told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Wafd Party candidate, Noaman Gomaa, had received only a fraction of the coverage allocated to Mubarak. He also complained that his party's campaign had been disrupted by hired thugs in several governorates and that local councils were asking exorbitant fees for the licensing of campaign activities, including the putting up of banners and posters. Atawiya insists the commission remains committed to ensuring that campaign rules are abided by. "Alleged infringements," he said, "are referred to the prosecutor-general." So far, though, he said, the commission has yet to receive any official complaints.
