The Egyptian Independent Commission for Election Monitoring (ICEM)
Final Assessment of the Egyptian Presidential Elections

The Egyptian Independent Commission for Monitoring the Elections has pronounced a set of international and legal criteria by which it judged and evaluated the latest presidential elections, they included:

I-Freedom
Both the voters and the candidates should practice their political freedom independently without fear or pressure. They should have the right to free expression, freedom of assembly and participation in peaceful demonstration.

II-Justice

All competitive candidates should have equal opportunities to reach their constituencies and pronounce their political programs regardless of their political affiliations or loyalties.

III-Transparency

The entire electoral process should be carried out in a highly transparent way which allows for the accessibility of data to both the public and the independent commissions concerned with monitoring the elections.

IV-Impartiality

Regardless of their political affiliations, those in charge of the electoral process must be committed to abiding by the law and the above articulated principles.

ICEM's Obeservations

Positive Indicators
1- Due to the neutral role that the security apparatus played during the presidential elections, very few cases of violent incidents were recorded. 2- The latest presidential elections have witnessed the unprecedented vitality of Egyptian political life as most of the candidates managed to articulate their various political programs through both direct and indirect means.
3- The last-minute decision taken by the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) that permitted observers to have access to the polling stations represented an important gain for civil society organizations wanting to assert their constitutional rights to monitor the elections.

Negative Indicators
1- In general, observers throughout Egypt reported incidents of fierce campaigning inside the polling stations, almost exclusively for the incumbent Mubarak.
2- Throughout Egypt, monitors also observed unofficial voting cards being handed to voters by the NDP with the name of the voter as well as an indicated preference for Mubarak. This card then facilitated their access to the polls and was used as a ballot in a number of cases.
3- Election monitors throughout Egypt also reported on irregularities and inaccuracies with the voter lists allowing both ineligible voters to cast a vote and denying the right to vote to eligible voters.
4- Observers reported that NDP activists were giving voters 20LE to 100LE and then accompanying them inside the polling station to ensure they voted for Mubarak. ICEM observers have audio and visual recording of this violation.
5- Election monitors continued to report that a significant number of polling stations throughout Egypt ink that was easily removable. ICEM's concern remains that this provided opportunities for people to cast their ballots more than once, thus seriously damaging the integrity of the election.
6- Observers deployed particularly in rural areas reported that judges were not assigned to a number of polling stations. These observers also reported a level of disorganization and lack of order at the polling stations.
7- ICEMelection monitors reported that in all but a few cases the polling centers were not identified as polling facilities.
8- All but a handful of ICEMobservers were denied access from monitoring the counting of the votes.

Recommendations set by ICEM

1- The government should be responsive to the judges' demands that the parliamentary elections should be held in several phases. Also, full recognition of the independence of the judicial authority is needed.
2- Animmediate amendment of the current electoral law is necessary and should include the following:


• Passing a constitutional amendment to limit the authority of the president, set a maximum limit for presidential terms, and abrogate article 76 that imposes many restrictions on political parties and independent individuals who seek to run for presidency.


• Forming an independent and neutral national commission for election administration, composed of judges affiliated with the Judges' Club.


• Reviewing the Law of Political Rights in a way that permits both local and international monitoring, keeping in mind that the Egyptian government had previously sent official delegations to monitor elections in many foreign countries.


• Abolishing the long-standing emergency law and other restrictive laws that restrain freedom of speech and obstruct the press and other political and civil institutions that seek to disseminate their views and demands to the public.


• Removing all barriers imposed on media that restrain freedom of publications, freedom of establishing newspapers and privateTV and Radio channels.


• Imposing stiffer penalties on acts such as rigging ballot boxes, threatening voters, or exploiting the State's material and religious resources to influence voters.


• Amending and improving the current electoral procedures in a way that renders them compatible with international standards.


• Carrying out a comprehensive revision of the current voter lists under the supervision of the judiciary and local and international organizations. OReplacing the wooden ballot boxes with transparent ones.


• Training election employees on the electoral law and its applications. Safeguarding the secrecy of the ballot.


• Allowing both political parties and independent candidates to obtain a copy of the voters' lists and the locations of the polling stations.


3- All local and international institutions concerned with monitoring the electoral process should offer public awareness programs that explain the many complex procedures and regulations governing the electoral process.
4- Both the Elections Administration and the Committee of Party Affairs in the Shura Council must exhibit more transparency and co-operation in all stages of the electoral process.
5- The Judges' Club and the National Council for Human Rights could function as a link between the ElectionsAdministration and all political parties, civil society institutions and individual candidates.
6- The time period necessary for the candidates' registration and campaigning needs to be extended.

Civil Society