Officials check the identity of a voter during the second stage of parliamentary elections in 2011 Hassan Ibrahim/DNE Egypt's Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) will allow international civil society and nongovernmental organisations to observe the upcoming parliamentary elections. The commission released a statement on Wednesday outlining the rules and provisions regarding registering for observation permits, as well as the guidelines organisations must adhere to, state news agency MENA reported. International organisations will have to register their interest in observing the elections with the SEC by 15 February and send the commission a comprehensive file outlining their activities and other elections they previously observed. The SEC will release a list of accepted NGOs on 22 February. Upon acceptance individual observers from NGOs must register on the SEC website by 5 March. The SEC will release a final list of observers by 20 March. President Mohamed Morsy has yet not called for elections for the House of Representatives, parliament's lower house. Morsy is obliged by the newly adopted constitution to call for them before the end of February. There has been no timeline for the elections put forth so far. NGOs will be prohibited from publishing election results before the SEC officially does so. They are also prohibited from “interference and trying to influence the results in any manner," the SEC said, nor may they receive gifts from candidates. They will be allowed to observe the electoral process from the beginning, starting with the updating of the voters database through to the ballot counting process. The SEC will reserve the right to revoke observation permits after they have been issued, either to individual observers or entire organisations. They will also invite certain notable NGOs and foreign electoral commissions to observe the elections.
