CAIRO - The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) concerned with Egypt's political development are preparing hundreds of their members and volunteers to monitor this month's parliamentary elections and catch the vote riggers redhanded. Apromise by President Hosni Mubarak to hold 'transparent and honest voting' has filled volunteers, who are mostly young graduates and political activists, with optimism that their 'national task' will not be disrupted by security men deployed to prevent violence during the voting. The Government is counting heavily on the final report by these civil society organisations to defend its integrity in the face of the traditional post-election allegations by the losers. In his capacity as Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Party, President Mubarak told NDP members: “I am expecting the elections later this month to be transparent and integral.” Rejecting offers from overseas human rights groups to monitor the elections, Mubarak stressed that local organisations and NGOs will do their task efficiently. High-profile NGOs and human rights organisations have decided to form alliances to do so more effectively. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) has initiated the 'Egyptian Alliance for Election Monitoring'. EOHR Chairman Hafez Abu Seda says that his organisation has mobilised about 120 low-profile NGOs and human rights organisations to help monitor the voting process later this month. “Our partners have helped us greatly during the crisis over the amendments to the law governing the activities and financial sources of NGOs in Egypt,” Abu Seda told the press. “This is why I've asked them to work with us again this month.” According to Abu Seda, more than 1,000 observers have done training courses organised by the EOHR to help them detect any dishonest behaviour involving the ruling party or the opposition. In addition to upholding citizens' constitutional and political rights, the volunteers have been trained in how to monitor the ballot stations, inside and out, as well as to spot unscrupulous elements engaging in vote rigging or causing disruption. This army of observers will record and document violations in the elections in late November. They will also report back, every two hours, to the operations room in the EOHR headquarters. Abu Seda denies that his 1,000- strong observer team is too small to monitor 40,000 ballot stations up and down the country, stressing that they are chiefly concerned with the 'hot spots', which have for decades been the fora for fierce competition between heavyweight NDP candidates and their opponents. Moreover, qualified observers will be deployed in constituencies notorious for violence between NDP candidates and candidates loyal to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Abu Seda is also concerned about constituencies in which candidates from Al-Wafd opposition party are reportedly more popular than the NDP's. “It won't be necessary to deploy observers in constituencies where the ruling party's candidates traditionally achieve landslide victories in parliamentary elections,” he explains. Abu Seda proudly denies that his organisation has received any financial support from any agency overseas or at home to help it with its task. The volunteers come from different cities, towns and villages, which means that the EOHR won't have to pay for their transport. Meanwhile, a senior official in a local NGO says quite openly that he has received a cheque for 300,000 euros from the EU. Magdi Abdel Hamid, the Chairman of an Egyptian organisation concerned with social interaction, says that the money will be spent on monitoring this month's elections.
