CAIRO ��" Security experts agree that the first post-revolution multi-phase general elections, proposed for November and January, will serve as an acid test for the ability of the security authorities to maintain law and order during the voting. The nation's police, who collapsed during the revolution, are now doing their best to get back on their feet again. The security personnel deployed across the nation on January 28 and after were unable to handle the mass demonstrations calling for Hosni Mubarak to go. Many young revolutionaries were killed during the revolt, as were dozens of security men. The latter were brutally slain by thugs (allegedly including foreign elements), who attacked police stations in different cities. The potential for security forces to guarantee smooth and peaceful voting on November 21 and January 25 was called into question by the criminal attacks on the Israeli Embassy and private and public property in Giza. A former assistant to the Minister of Interior has dispelled the nation's worries about the Ministry of Interior's arrangements to ensure the safety of the public at the polls. Gen. Ahmed el-Fouli, who is now the head of defence and national security for Al-Wafd opposition party, has poured scorn on the head of ex-minister of interior Habib el-Adly, blaming him for the massive election rigging under Mubarak. El-Adly is now being tried on charges of killing the young demonstrators. Together with the former president and six of his (el-Adly's) former assistants, the ex-minister has been accused of ordering his men to fire live ammunition at the protesters. General el-Fouli claims that el-Adly masterminded the rigging in favour of the candidates fielded by the now disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP). “Now that the police will no longer be ordered to interfere in the elections, I am confident that they will do their duty,” el-Fouli recently told the press. Warning that outlaws and anarchists could be paid to disrupt the voting process, the former police general urged the nation to co-operate with the policemen and confirm for the outside world the values of Egypt's civilisation. Another veteran security expert, Gen. Nabil el-Habet, also regrets that the police played a big role in rigging the elections under the former regime. A seminar to discuss the security arrangements for the first post-revolution general elections in Egypt is planned for next Sunday, organised in the Cabinet's Decision Support Centre by the independent Egyptian National Council, under the chairmanship of political activist Eng. Mamdouh Hamza. The podium will be occupied by senior police officers, security experts and politicians. A former chief in the disbanded State Security Agency (now the National Security Agency) stresses that the successful policing of the next elections hinges on the extent to which the public is prepared to co-operate with the police in challenging armed thugs and outlaws. Gen. Fouad Allam, who spent most of his police career in the former State Security Agency, says: “Society is still unstable, but the police are doing their best to deal with violence, anarchy and other criminal acts. There will be a lot of candidates in the next elections and the public's co-operation with the police is vital.”
