CAIRO: The Egypt Center for Human Rights (ECHR) has released a statement on electoral violations, reported to it as of 2:30PM on Monday. The Center says that despite the security presence at polling stations, a large number of candidates belonging to the Freedom Party and the Freedom and Justice Party, as well as some independents, have engaged in illegal electoral activities directly outside polling stations. Some have also been offering financial incentives to voters. The Center has so far received a total of 391 complaints. These generally relate to continued electoral propaganda, delays in opening polling stations, the absence of ballot papers or the absence of the official stamp from the papers, the use of religious slogans, and in one case the blocking of a road in Badari, Assiut governorate, by supporters of a disqualified candidate. The Center says that these complaints represent “many and varied cases in various areas,” with the greatest number coming from the Cairo governorate, followed by Assiut, Alexandria, Kafr Sheikh, Fayyoum, and the Red Sea. ECHR is taking steps to address the complaints it has received. BM
