CAIRO: The Supreme Electoral Commission overseeing the upcoming Shoura Council elections began the vetting process Monday for the applications of potential candidates. Chairman of the commission Intisar Nessim, who is also head of the Cairo Appeals Court, said that the vetting process would continue until Thursday. Candidates submit their application to the 11-member committee — comprised mainly of judges — who decide whether to accept or refuse the candidacy. There is an appeals process if a candidate's application is turned down. Nessim added that the appeals process was scheduled for May 14-16 with the eligible candidates announced on the final day, after which the preparation of the electoral stations will begin. Candidacy applications were submitted last week. Eighty-eight seats are to be decided on June 1, with a second round of voting scheduled for June 8. Voting will take place in 67 electoral districts, 21 of which will have two seats. The upcoming elections have stirred some controversy regarding the candidates fielded by the Muslim Brotherhood, who claimed that they have faced impediments during the application process. Group member and MP Sabry Khalafallah said Monday that the ruling National Democratic Party was planning a “violence” strategy in the upcoming elections stating that the party wanted to continue its monopoly on power despite the weakness of its candidates. Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdy Hassan previously told Daily News Egypt that as soon as the group announced the name of a candidate in Alexandria, the lawyers who were responsible for submitting his paperwork were arrested. The electoral commission has however permitted the candidate, Ahmed Ramadan Saeed, to submit the necessary paperwork for applying. A similar case in Gharbiya involved would-be candidate Ahmed Fouad Ahmed Nasr. Fourteen potential candidates in all had submitted complaints to the committee regarding impediments in submitting their paperwork, the committee allowing them all to be considered after receiving their complaints. Additionally, Brotherhood leader Gamal Heshmat was arrested in Beheira Monday evening along with another member Osama Suleiman in a move the group linked to the upcoming elections. “During elections it is always open season on the Muslim Brotherhood to prevent them from running in,” Hassan said last Tuesday. “Heshmat is a big symbol in Beheira and the arrest was to terrorize people from participating in the elections.”
