CAIRO: Financial violations are occurring but are not being reported, as the spending cap set by the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) for parliamentary candidates' campaigns was surpassed by many, according to both observers and candidates. Spending on each candidate's campaign was capped by the SEC at LE 200,000, with an additional LE 100,000 permitted in the event of a run-off vote scheduled for Dec. 5. While the SEC has not received any official complaints regarding candidates surpassing the spending cap, NGOs have stated that a large proportion of candidates ignored it altogether. “The SEC does not have the mechanisms to ascertain whether a candidate has passed the spending cap,” Ahmed Fawzy of the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement told Daily News Egypt. “We have noticed that most of the candidates from the National Democratic Party (NDP), Al-Wafd and the Muslim Brotherhood, and some independent candidates have surpassed the cap.” There are no official figures of candidates' campaign spending. And unlike in other countries, there is no specific bank account set up by each candidate or party to track their spending. According to Fawzy, the legislation behind the creation of the SEC (which in the 2007 Constitutional Amendments was created to replace direct judicial supervision of the ballot boxes) did not give it enough of a mandate to be able to track candidates' expenditures. Bahey-Eldin Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, wrote earlier this week that the “commission [had] capped campaign spending at LE 200,000, but some candidates had passed that limit even before campaigning officially started [on Nov. 14].” Article 4 of the SEC's Resolution 58 for 2010 stipulates that “the maximum which may be expended by all candidates in their electoral campaigns is LE 200,000, and the maximum expenditure for run-off campaigns is LE 100,000, and no candidate may her/himself, or through an intermediary, provide funds or in-kind or personal benefits to voters to impact the integrity of the election.” However, Fawzy stated that candidates had circumvented the spending caps in a number of ways, and by looking at the advertising campaigns alone it was clear to see that the limit had been exceeded. “The campaigning began early, and there were many religious occasions that came through the course of the campaign which candidates used to benefit their campaigns,” Fawzy said. “For example, slaughtering cows during Eid and distributing the meat. Each [cow] costs around LE 20,000 and some candidates paid for eight or nine. “The number of candidates' banners also show the spending cap has been passed,” Fawzy added. “If you count the number of banners for each candidate in his or her district, and the cost of each one, you will also reach this conclusion.” This was reiterated by Tagammu Party candidate in North Sinai Khalil Jabr Sawarkeh, who told Daily News Egypt, “NDP candidates will have around 300 electronic banners in their district, and the cost of one is around LE 300 — and that's just the banners.” Another insidious way in which the spending cap was violated — in addition to violating virtually every election law — has been the buying of votes, according to Sawarkeh, whose own campaign spending totaled around LE 15,000. “We have been getting reports that certain candidates have been paying for votes, with the price ranging from LE 100 to LE 1,000 per vote,” he said. “In this case … the spending cap has definitely been surpassed.” Fawzy also criticized the nine government ministers running in the elections as NDP candidates, stating that they were appropriating state resources for the benefit of their campaigns, exploiting their access to the ministry's government buildings and their employees. “Is the SEC waiting for someone to submit a complaint … to put a stop to the violations?” Fawzy asked. “The SEC is an illusionary body that doesn't exist except to give statements. The law does not grant it enough authority to effectively run these elections.”
