Essam el-Erian, media spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Vice President of the Freedom and Justice Party, said the law is a good starting point for conducting free and fair elections but criticized it for not stating what kind of electoral system would be used in upcoming elections. El-Erian said the law addresses the general rules that would determine an election and meets the demands of those concerned , who had demanding such a law since Egypt's 1984 elections. Prominent opposition figure and expected presidential contender Mohamed el-Baradei said the law virtually deprives millions of Egyptians abroad of their right to choose their representatives. Dr. Nabil Abdel Fattah, an expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the return of judicial supervision of elections is a return to a tradition established by the Supreme Constitutional Court to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. However, he also said the insistence on holding elections in September could be a danger to democratic development in Egypt, particularly as fundamentalist Islamic groups, such as the Salafis, are believed to be the best prepared for elections. Abdel Fattah said Egyptians living abroad should not be involved in the voting process, calling such inclusion “ill-considered.” He asked how they would vote, as no voting mechanism for Egyptians abroad has been considered. He also said Gulf countries will push Egyptians to vote for Islamist groups as it would be in the best interest of the Gulf countries for the Egyptian revolution to fail. “The law only achieved 70 percent of our ambitions and public demands,” said George Ishak, a prominent member of the National Association for Change. “We expect the regulations, as they will determine to what extend the law will be effective,” he added. Ishak criticized the lack of community dialogue prior to passing the law. Ishak said the only positive aspects of the law were the provision of an independent judicial committee, the prevention of the use of religious slogans in election campaigns and limiting the role of the security forces in elections. He said he will campaign for clauses regarding the electoral system, online voting and the right of Egyptians abroad to vote. Amin Iskandar, one of the founders of al-Karama Party, agreed with Ishak and el-Baradei that there is a great deal of ambiguity surrounding much of the new law. He particularly noted the absence of a guarantee of the right for Egyptians abroad to vote, voting mechanisms and a method of voting. Dr. Samir Aleesh, who heads the campaign of Egyptians for Free Elections, also said the law only achieves a percentage of the demands of civil society groups like his. Lawyer and human rights activist Nasser Amin, head of the Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary, said the decree of the political rights law was based on a vote amongst the civil society and human rights organizations. He described the law as “good.” Amin said the law implicitly outlines the rights of Egyptians. He called for clear mechanisms and explicit guarantees that Egyptians be allowed to vote in all democratic processes in Egypt. Amin criticized the formation of committees which will oversee the elections, which are set by the decree of the law and are solely limited to judges. Negad el-Borai, a human rights activist, said the law is good and pointed out that the decree takes into consideration many of the demands of civil society organizations. Borai called for the state to provide strong mechanisms and explicitly grand the right to vote to Egyptians abroad. He criticized the decision to limit the supervising committees to judges only. Borai called for the involvement of civil society organizations in the election process, political parties, and the formation of election supervision committees. Basma Moussa, a Baha'i activist, demanded that Egypt's Minister of Justice come to a quick decision to resolve the problem of identification documents, which do not give an option to but ‘Baha'i' under ‘religion.' She expressed the hope that the work of the revolutionary government will help Baha'is attain their basic civil rights.
