CAIRO: The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) has proposed the use of the national express mail service (EMS) to deliver the ballots of Egyptian expats. Judge Abdel Mo'ez Ibrahim, head of the SEC, said that the commission is exploring the possibility and how to apply this mechanism from a legal standpoint. The Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted Ibrahim as saying that so far only proposals have been tabled with regards to expat votes, but nothing concrete has yet been introduced to the constitutional declaration to legalize these measures. On Oct. 25, an Administrative Court ruled that Egyptians abroad long deprived of the vote under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, will have the right to cast their ballots in the upcoming polls. "From what I understand of this proposal, each expat would receive a closed envelope that contains three documents; one is an endorsement of himself that he is eligible to vote in which he fills his data and two ballots, one for the parties lists and the other for individual candidates," Hazem Abdel Azim, an IT expert, said at a conference Thursday. After the voter fills the three forms, he said, he/she should put them and a copy of his driver's license or of his residence document in the envelope. The supervisors of the electoral process would then check the voter's name in the electoral list and place it in the ballot box in the embassy or consulate while guaranteeing that the voting is done within a direct confidential process. "The counting of ballots might be done at the embassies or consulates," he added. Abdel Azim said that the proposal to allow the expats to cast their ballots through electronic voting, can easily be done despite fears of not being able to verify the voter's identity. "In Egypt, there is an advantage called digital certificate, that is, each internet user would have a digital number saved on a flash memory with a pin code. Wherever you place this flash memory the computer will identify you," he said. He went on to say that this is a safe and legal way to vote according to the electronic signature regulatory law. Ahmed Ragheb, lawyer at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, said that each electoral system has advantages and disadvantages. Yet, he added, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) should not be the authority which enact laws regarding expats voting since it is an interim authority. "This should be left to the elected parliament," he said. Ragheb said the SEC should enact three requirements to allow expats to vote. The commission, he said, should issue a resolution to establish electoral committees in the elections headquarters in accordance with the number of voters; publicize clearly the voting mechanism for expats; and finally explain all subsequent procedures such as how and where the votes will be counted and when and where the results will be made public. After much campaigning abroad and within Egypt, expats were only allowed to vote through a court verdict. Many politicians and observers speculate that the expat vote will be a game-changer.
