CAIRO: Egypt's local media last week highlighted statements by several Egyptian and foreign officials related to the international supervision of the next parliamentary elections taking place at the end of the month, focusing on statements by Egyptian government officials and the US Republican Institute, which sent a delegation to Egypt to address this issue. The local press also addressed the recent controversy raised about the annual festival held in Alexandria under the title “Farah El Bahr” organized by EuroMed's Anna Lindh Institution, with the goal of diversity of intercultural initiatives both in Egypt and the wider Mediterranean. The debate raised controversy over the participation of Israeli artists at the festival. The statements of Egypt's representative to the UN on human rights in Egypt and the government's efforts to improve the situation in Egypt were also highlighted in last week's media coverage. Early last week, Safwat El-Sherif, the Secretary-General of the National Democratic Party (NDP), said the party used new methods in the selection of candidates, “and no concession to anyone at the expense of the values and principles of the party, and there was no place for any suspicious candidate,” stressing the commitment to the decisions of the Supreme Committee for the elections, and the party would have a “firm stand in relation to violating Article V of the Constitution in the event of the use of religious symbols and emblems.” Sherif affirmed during the meeting of the Supreme Policies Council of the party that the party rejects international monitoring of elections and considers it as conflicting with “the internal affairs and backed by the political parties.” He added that “we are convinced that Egypt's civil society institutions capable of performing this role.” Similar statements were given by the Speaker of the People's Assembly Ahmed Fathi Sorour, who stressed the right of Egypt to “ensure that the integrity of the elections on its own and under the control of the Supreme Committee for the elections.” Sorour said the institutions of Egyptian civil society are the “best guarantee” of the integrity of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for the 28th of this month, pointing out that civil society organizations represents the people and not the government, and thus “if these organizations observed any abuse in the electoral process, it would announce it.” Whether the foreign embassies in Egypt would follow-up for the conduct of the electoral process on polling day, the speaker denied that, saying: “No one of the members of the embassies will be able to enter the electoral commissions,” adding that outside commissions, “each individual expresses himself and therefore follow-up to real elections will not exist outside the committees.” Local press also pointed to the visit by a delegation from the United States Republican Institute to the National Council for Human Rights, to address the council's role in a number of issues, including parliamentary elections. Local newspapers said the delegation, which included Regional Director of the Institute of San Lahoud, met with Mahmoud Karem, Secretary General of the Council, and Makram Mohammed Ahmed, head of the Elections Unit at the Council and Zeinab Radwan, a top member of the council. Members of the delegation asked about the reasons behind the council`s rejection of international supervision of elections, especially in light of statements of Counselor Mokbel Shaker, Vice Chairman of the Council in this regard. Makram Mohamed Ahmed responded by saying that there is a near consensus of Egyptian society on the rejection of international supervision of Egyptian elections. He added, “the decision is made by the public's will and not by the state,” stressing that the Egyptian people “reject foreign tutelage.” Members of the delegation asked about the position of the Council towards sectarian incidents, which occasionally affect the country and amendments to the Law No. 84 of 2002, regulating the work of NGOs in Egypt and the fears of activists of the draft law included restrictions on their work. In a related context, Maged Abdel Fattah, Egypt's permanent delegate at the United Nations, stressed that Egypt's periodic review of the Human Rights Council for this year, “successfully proved that they go on the road to the protection and promotion of all human rights.” Abdel Fattah, said in a statement before the General Assembly of the United Nations, on Wednesday, that Egypt fixed steps towards the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and promote the values of democracy and community participation overall, and the “equality of all citizens rights and obligations in the framework of the increasing cooperation between government, civil society and the private sector.” The Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN added that Egypt “will continue to implement all international obligations and work to promote respect for human rights at the regional and international levels, and praised the active role of the National Council for Human Rights, since its inception and work continuously to develop uniform standards, through co-operative approach to build to deal with issues human rights.” Prominent Euro-Med Anna Lindh Foundation for Cultural Dialogue, which organized its annual festival ‘Farah El-Bahr' at Qaitbey Citadel in Alexandria last week also received some coverage. The festival included international artists from the two shores of the Mediterranean, including Spain, Germany and Egypt, under a program of intercultural workshops targeting children and young people with the theme of “Citizens of Diversity.” The Foundation had to refute the accusations against its festival, where rumors quickly spread about the participation of Israeli artists in the festival. Egypt has a cultural policy of anti-normalization with Israeli art institutions and artists. A representative from the foundation denied reports about the presence of Israelis in the Festival, stressing that the aim of such a festival is to “provide an opportunity for the people of Alexandria to interact with people from different cultures and to see the performance and arts of other peoples and that it distances itself from political issues.” The representative added that “the States participating in the festival are: Egypt, Greece, Germany, Britain, Spain, Belgium and France and that it serves the Egyptian youth, and highlights the pride of belonging to the Mediterranean region.” The foundation expressed their pride in the presence of the headquarters of the Anna Lindh Foundation in Alexandria to give opportunities for the Egyptian people, “youth in particular, to meet face to face with the peoples of Europe and the Mediterranean and to work together on joint projects.” BM
