Executive regulations covering the law on the exercise of political rights give the judiciary sweeping powers in supervising next elections, reports Gamal Essam El-Din On 19 August the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) endorsed a final draft of the executive regulations covering the 1956 law on exercise of political rights. The 38-article regulations give the SEC -- manned exclusively by judges -- sweeping powers to oversee parliamentary elections scheduled for November. The SEC will control the poll from beginning to end, says commission member Abdel-Muiz Ibrahim, including "preparing the lists of voters to announcing the final results". Ibrahim explained that the SEC has formed three subcommittees to be entrusted with preparing the first reliable database of Egyptian voters. "The first will take charge of clearing voter lists of the deceased and emigrants; the second will compile the names of newly eligible voters and the third will be entrusted with adding the names to the lists". The first subcommittee, headed by Samir Abul-Maati, "will be responsible for ensuring that the names of individuals stripped from exercising their political rights during the Mubarak era are added to the lists of voters". Under the former regime civil society organisations had repeatedly complained that outdated electoral rolls had allowed widespread vote rigging. "Voter lists will be made available in both print and electronic form," says Abul-Maati. Complete print lists, indicating the exact number of voters registered at each polling station -- will be available in police stations, courts and through village mayors. "Hundreds of copies will also be made available to citizens to make it easier for them to vote. In addition, the lists will be available to anyone logging onto the official websites of SEC, the Egyptian government or the computer centres of provincial governorates." They will also be available in the form of CDs. According to Ibrahim, the second subcommittee, headed by Youssri Abdellah, will take charge of updating voter lists, drawing on data made available by the Civil Status Authority, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Health and the prosecution authorities. The third subcommittee will concentrate on determining the exact number of eligible voters. The regulations also provide for election committees, composed of judges, to be formed in all 27 governorates. "These committees will be responsible for making sure that voters have easy access to voting lists ahead of elections," says Ibrahim. They will also be charged with selecting polling and vote-counting stations. "The judge responsible for each committee will make sure the polling states operate in a way that allows the smooth running of a secret ballot and that voting papers are securely transported to the main vote-counting station," said Abul- Maati. Civil society organisations have welcomed the executive regulations. "It is essential to overhaul voter lists," says Hafez Abu Seada, chairman of the Egyptian Organisation of Human Rights (EOHR). "They had been repeatedly exploited by the former regime to rig election results. All we need now is for civil society organisations to have free access and all necessary help in observing the poll. Candidates' representatives must also be allowed to attend the vote and the vote-counting process in order to make reports about any possible irregularities."
