MENOUFIA, EGYPT: Essam Sultan, the vice president of al-Wasat Party, said that the head of the Supreme Electoral Commission intentionally ignored violations by some parties in the first phase of the elections and dealt with them passively at a press conference. At the press conference held to announce the election's results, Sultan said that he knew that the SEC was waiting for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' to take action regarding the violations. He called on the commission not to wait for orders. Sultan added that what happened in the first phase was falsification, but not fraud. He called Islamist parties to never make use of illiteracy. He pointed to an incident in Dameitta when a woman asked how to vote for al-Wasat's list, and youths pointed to scales, the symbol of the Freedom and Justice Party. Sultan pointed out that the most important step his party is taking now is the handover of power to a civilian authority. He said fear of Islamists was unnecessary and called for acceptance of peoples' choices. He said that his party was the only one that had its posters and advertisements cut, calling it illegal and immoral. He added that his party calls for a civil state with an Islamic reference, calling al-Wasat a political party, and not a missionary group. He said al-Wasat does not want to conflate the two, citing that as the reason for his resignation from the Muslim Brotherhood 16 years ago.
