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EDSN Workshop on monitoring practices and guidelines
On
February 19th 2006, the Egyptian Democracy Support Network
(EDSN), a loose network of domestic NGO’s involved in the recent
electoral monitoring process, staged a workshop in cooperation with
the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The number of participants
exceeded expectations, as more than 50 attendants took part in the
session at the Marriott Hotel in Zamalek, Cairo.
An introduction was conducted by the Chairman of Ibn Khaldun Center,
Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who summed up the process of democratization
in Egypt over the past thirty years, pointing to the difficulties and
restrictions they faced from a government utterly reluctant to reform
and change.
A standardized questionnaire (issued by the UN) was distributed among
participants in order to gather consistent datasets on the adherence
of electoral procedures during elections. Discussion among the
participants concerning the problems that were encountered in the
previous election monitoring processes followed. It was consequently
pointed out that monitors weren’t allowed by the security personnel to
enter polling stations on numerous occasions. Many participants
emphasised that women were often deprived of their right to vote,
because ballot boxes were located inside police stations.
The lack of resources and skilled monitors was highlighted as a major
hindrance to achieving sustainable results. With foreknowledge of
this issue, NDI next trained the participants of the workshop to
employ scientific techniques to gain information about the accuracy of
present voter’s lists through using random sampling methods.
In conclusion, the workshop served to show the intent of the
participating domestic NGO’s to use electoral reform as a means to
build awareness for the democratization process in Egypt. NDI’s
proposal to start monitoring the collective registration process,
including an analysis of current voter’s lists, was agreed upon by the
participants with immediate effect. Nevertheless, it did not escape
the participating NGO’s that monitors will continue to depend on the
cooperation of security departments to facilitate their work in the
monitoring process, as well as on funding necessary to perform such a
task, which remain challenges that are yet to be met. |
