Egyptians living abroad are in need of a political decree to be able to cast their votes in this month's parliamentary poll, reports Doaa El-Bey The Egyptian Higher Electoral Committee (HEC), headed by Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, met with Abdel-Aziz El-Guindi, the minister of justice, on Tuesday. During the meeting, Ibrahim suggested amending Article 39 of the Constitutional Declaration which grants judges full supervision over the elections. The proposed amendment concerns Egyptians abroad and gives them the right to vote at their consulates. Playing the role of judges abroad will be Egypt's diplomatic representatives in the consulates. Bahieddin Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, told Al-Ahram Weekly that had there been political will, the decision would have been taken earlier to allow for the procedures needed to implement it. "Instead of rejecting a law, the government and the military would have decided that it is difficult to implement it," he added. Simon Fayez, a member of the Free Front for Peaceful Change, a youth group that campaigned for the right of Egyptian expatriates to vote, said that the law is in need of a political decree to be implemented. He agreed with Hassan that the political will for implementing it is absent. "The verdict should be accompanied by a mechanism to implement it or else it will be like a tranquiliser to the people," Fayez told the Weekly. The problem emerged, Hassan added, from the fact that the ruling military council did not consider the right of Egyptians abroad when it amended the election law in May. "The authorities have always had doubts about the loyalty of Egyptians to their country especially those who live abroad, have dual nationality, or work for international companies," he added. Constitutionally, all Egyptian citizens are allowed to participate and vote in the elections. In addition, according to Law 73/ 1953, which was amended by Law 173/ 2005, Egyptians abroad have the right to vote in Egyptian consulates as long as they are not deprived of their political rights. Law 73, amended later in May, created a problem for Egyptians abroad by stating that people vote in actual polling stations in the exact district that is listed on their national identity cards. The participation of Egyptians abroad in voting was one of the issues that found its way into public discourse after the 25 January Revolution. The HEC listed obstacles that needed legislative amendment to implement the law especially concerning judicial supervision. Mustafa Abdel-Aziz Moussa, former assistant of the foreign minister, said that it was very difficult to provide a judge for every consulate or embassy. Thus, legislation is needed to give ambassadors and counselors judicial authority during the elections. "The law ensures the elections will be conducted under full supervision of judges. The HEC should amend this provision to facilitate the process of Egyptians abroad voting," Moussa said. The other obstacle preventing implementation of the law is that voting should be conducted with a national ID card, which many Egyptian abroad do not have. However, the amendments aim to also allow Egyptians abroad to vote with their passports. The Ministry of Interior has tried to resolve the problem by sending delegations abroad to issue national identity cards to Egyptians at consulates in the US, Canada and European countries. Fayez did not regard this as a big obstacle but a way for the government to procrastinate giving in to the demands of the people. "If they have the will to get out of this situation, they would have taken the decision earlier. They can always look at the experiences of other states that gave their citizens the right a long time ago," he added. The HEC also discovered there was no database for Egyptian abroad because there are many Egyptians who do not register in embassies of the countries they live in. Moussa said that if the embassies declared a time and place for the elections, all Egyptians who are willing to take part would cast their vote. The problem is in whether the people will participate not in whether they are registered in their embassies, he added. The Egyptian Administrative Court last week ordered the Egyptian government to form electoral voting centres in Egyptian embassies worldwide to enable Egyptians abroad to vote in the upcoming elections. That ruling gave some 10 million Egyptians living around the world the right to take part in the elections while abroad. Several countries have granted their citizens the same rights, including Tunisia, whose citizens stood in long queues outside Tunisian embassies around the world last weekend to vote in the first democratic elections the country's history. The campaign to allow Egyptians abroad to vote in elections started after the revolution inside and outside Egypt. It became more vocal when it was clear that the ruling military did not plan on allowing expatriates to vote. Periodically, protests are organised in front of Egyptian embassies in capital cities like London and Paris, demanding the right to vote. The protests are usually announced online via Facebook. The last organised protest was held late last month in front of embassies in London, Paris, New York and Washington. In Egypt, among the first to bring up the right to vote of Egyptians abroad was potential presidential candidate Mohamed El-Baradei who talked about it in the media before the revolution. Groups like 6 April and other youth movements joined the call. However, various sources predict it will be difficult to allow Egyptians abroad to participate in the parliamentary elections, but could take part in the presidential elections. "The bottom line is to pave the way for Egyptians abroad to take part in the election process and in shaping the political life of their country. The most important thing is to implement the law," Moussa said.
