CAIRO - A two-day electoral silence starts Monday and Tuesday before the presidential vote that will kick off on Wednesday and Thursday. The runoff vote will be on June 16 and 17, if no single candidate wins an outright majority. Egypt's next President will be formally named on 21 June. Thirteen candidates are contesting the race, including Islamists, liberalists and some officials who served in the former regime. Candidates or voters are not allowed to use any candidate's photo, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. All candidates were making a final effort to lure voters, having depended heavily on popular conferences, during the campaign period that started officially on April 30, to highlight their platforms and plans. Mohamed Selim el-Awa spoke as a guest on several televised programmes on Sunday, while the Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi tried to be everywhere at once in Cairo. A rally for Sabbahi marked his last day of campaigning, held at his headquarters in Mohandiseen. Mubarak's former foreign minister, Amr Moussa, held a press conference at his campaign headquarters. Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, was in Port Said for a rally, before returning to Cairo for an last nigh's vent. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party hold the most seats in Parliament and, together with other Islamist forces, command a majority. Each candidate has been allowed to spend no more than LE10 million in the first phase of his campaigning, while the candidates are not allowed to use governmental institutions, universities, schools, mosques and churches. Some observers from the Atlanta-based Carter Centre arrived on Sunday in Cairo, Higher Presidential Elections Commission (HPEC) sources said, adding that some observers from the European Union have also arrived. “The Carter Centre has received accreditation from the HPEC to witness the elections,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding that 22 observers from 14 countries will “join an 80-person delegation from 35 countries, who will be there [here in Egypt] for several days before the elections and throughout the elections”. The Carter Centre is a non-governmental organisation founded by former US President and Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter to advance human rights. It monitors elections worldwide, including several in Africa. “The HPEC has prepared a committee to welcome the observers,” the sources said, adding that the observers will follow up activities concerning directing elections, campaigning, electoral silence and vote counting. They well also meet representatives of the political parties and NGOs. The HPEC has previously said that 60 organisations will monitor elections.
