CAIRO: Following statements by the Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Immigration Aisha Abdel-Hady, who said that Egyptians living abroad will be allowed to vote in the next presidential elections, researcher Sabri Baga, coordinator of the issue for the Egyptians abroad coalition, said that the Board of Directors of the coalition will hold an urgent meeting to discuss arrangements and preparations needed to facilitate the voting process at the Egyptian embassy and consulates in the United States. He added that the minister's comments carry an “amount of credibility as it was issued by a Minister in responsible government.” The meeting comes despite the inconsistencies in the positions of the Egyptian officials about statements issued by Abdel-Hady in Egypt, but Baga made clear that these statements were a “result of the directives of the President is not easy, and cannot be underestimated.” Baga confirmed that Egyptians in Canada held a meeting with the Egyptian Ambassador in Ottawa to deliver a letter to President Hosni Mubarak, to give the right of Egyptians abroad to vote in the election. Osama Rushdi, coordinator of the Save Egypt Front abroad, said the Front would appeal the unconstitutionality of a general election, saying it does not include a call on Egyptians abroad to participate in the vote, and calling on all Egyptians “to denounce the attitude of the National Democratic Party and the secretariats and the secretariat of policies, whose stances are unconstitutional and hostile to the rights of millions of Egyptians abroad.” Rushdi said in a press release that the breakthrough brought about by the statements of Abdel Hady, to Egyptians in Rome on the October 18, that these statements were “hatched from its content, as well as to put administrative or bureaucratic obstacles in order to impede the exercise and as if the government expelled hundreds of thousands of the finest sons of Egypt and its human resources which is supposed to embrace and not to question their rights; an issue should lead to the removal of all obstacles in front of all Egyptians abroad to exercise full rights of citizenship.” Rushdi said he was surprised by television statements by Mohamed Kamal, Secretary of the Education and Training secretariat of the NDP, confirming that Abdel-Hady denied during a meeting of the Secretariat of the National Party last Monday, saying that “Egyptians abroad will participate in the 2011 elections,” and added that the case is still under examination. Rushdi commented saying “this is very strange. Why did the minister wait all this time denying what was circulated by the media? Why did not the minister herself correct statements directly and issue a clarification to the media rather than waiting for Mohammad Kamal to explain this to us? Or is the Secretariat of the National Party still holding on to their negative positions towards Egyptians abroad?” BM
