Press Conference on the Egyptian Democratic Support Network (EDSN)

On October 31st, ICDS convened a press conference which was attended by a number of journalists, intellectuals, and political activists. The major purpose of the press conference was to answer questions raised about the inaugural conference of the newly formed (EDSN ), convened inAlexandria on October 22 .

Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, ICDS' Chairman, took the floor to highlight the Center's key initiatives during the year 2005 which included, encouraging qualified figures to declare their intention to run for the latest Presidential elections and forming the Independent Egyptian Commission for Monitoring the elections (IECME). He also tackled the latest constitutional amendments with a special focused on article 76 which according to him opened the door for competitive, but highly restricted Presidential elections.

Then, Dr. Ibrahim discussed the conditions which led to the formation of EDSN and its objectives which include: (i) recording all positive and negative political movements that pertain to the promotion of democracy and human rights, (ii) monitoring elections, and (iii) opening new channels of communications with international NGO's that are expected to play a vital role in providing local NGO's with material and nonmaterial support. Moreover, membership in the network will be open to local NGO's, prominent figures, and international NGO's. EDSN's sources of funding will be based on contributions made by domestic NGO's and their international counterparts.

Finally, Dr. Ibrahim condemned those who attempted to spoil the EDSN conference and who publicly accused the participants of being traitors who seek to open the country for foreign intervention. Finally, Dr. Ibrahim expressed his disappointment with several Egyptian media that falsely reported that the incident cut short the deliberations of the conference.