CAIRO - Egypt's Higher Election Commission, a group of judges who monitor the parliamentary vote, on Sunday warned against the use of religious propaganda in the second round of the parliamentary elections, which will be held in nine governorates on December 14 and 15, saying transgressors will be brought to account. "We encourage the authorities concerned to report any violations so that they can be referred to the commission," said the head of the commission's Technical Committee, Justice Youssri Abdel-Karim. Voters in the nine governorates of Giza, Menoufiya, Sharqiya, Beni Sueif, Beheira, Sohag, Aswan, Ismailiya and Suez are due to head to the polling stations in 45 constituencies to cast their ballots in the second stage of the first post-Hosni Mubarak parliamentary polls. Around 3,919 candidates are going to contest 120 seats in this round, but expectations are high that the Islamists (the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists) will maintain their lead. The Islamists have managed to win more than 60 per cent of the seats in the nine governorates that took part in the first round of the elections, setting the alarm bells ringing about the changes that might happen, politically and socially, if they come to power. "We have to present concessions and accept democracy as it is," said Salafist leader Yasser Borhami in a public rally in Giza on Saturday. "But, if we do not field candidates in the elections, we will open the door for the liberals and the secularists," he added. According to independent election observers, Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood candidates were the most guilty of using religious propaganda during the first round of the elections. Supporters of one Salafist candidate attached his photo to the photo of an apolitical, a popular cleric, in order to make the candidate more appealing to the voters. In some constituencies, the Islamists asked voters to vote for them, in order to ‘help Islam become victorious', independent election observers say. The Higher Election Commission has also reiterated its ban on election propaganda 48 hours before the start of the vote. It said electoral campaigns should come to an end two days before the vote starts, so that voters have the chance to select their candidates without any pressure. Some political parties, however, are opposed to this. One of these parties is the leftist Karama Party, which argues that candidates should communicate with the voters until one day before the voting. "If the ban on election propaganda before the elections is important, why not apply it only 24 hours before the vote starts?" asked Ahmed Bayoumi, a senior member of the party. "I am sure most of the nation's political parties will oppose this ban.”
