The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) opened, Saturday, the application process for international and local media outlets and NGOs to observe the upcoming parliamentary elections. The application process will last until 20 August. The SEC issued two decrees to regulate media and NGOs' applications for the elections that are poised to be held before the end of the year. Parliamentary elections were postponed in March, due to the unconstitutionality of the parliamentary elections law.Both decrees state that media outlets and NGOs given approval to monitor the elections earlier in the year, before the electoral process was postponed, do not need to re-apply. This has opened the door to organisations that did not previously apply, or were initially rejected, to submit applications. Representatives from approved media and NGOs will be able to register themselves from 26 August until 30 August. The SEC previously approved 63 local NGOs to monitor the elections, including the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) and Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights. Five international rights organisations were also approved: the US-based Democracy International (DI); the Norway-based Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD); the Switzerland-based International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (IIPJDH); the South Africa-based Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA); and the Switzerland-based Ecumenical Alliance for Human Rights and Development (EAHRD). The SEC promised that the much-awaited and long-postponed parliamentary elections will occur and that the new parliament will hold its first session before the end of December 2015.
