Egypt’s November 28/December 6 elections solved one problem for the ruling party—removing the Muslim Brothers from the parliament—and created a host of others, not the least of which is that they drained nearly all remaining credibility from the electoral system.
Egypt’s parliamentary elections, both in the way they were run and in their results, were too far removed from fairness, competitiveness, and the essence of democracy to generate a legislature that can effectively monitor the executive branch. Consequently, the newly elected People’s Assembly is bound to lack genuine popular legitimacy.
In the aftermath of the November 28 People’s Assembly elections, the U.S. State Department and White House released statements expressing disappointment with the low levels of transparency and integrity observed over the course of the electoral process.
As results come in for Egypt’s People’s Assembly elections, they are not likely to be viewed as legitimate either inside the country or outside due to the total lack of transparency and the widespread irregularities and violence that characterized the voting and counting processes.
As Egyptians head to the polls to choose a new People’s Assembly, a flurry of activity by the government, opposition, and independents has produced more than 4,000 candidates. Meanwhile, the electoral commission has shown numerous shortcomings in its supervisory role and opposition activists, especially those in the banned Muslim Brotherhood, have been subjected to repressive measures that have colored the final days before the elections with violence.
In a video Q & A, Mahmoud Ali Mohamed, of the Egyptian Association for Supporting Democratic Development, discusses election monitoring efforts for the November 28 parliamentary elections.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to look for on November 28 will be the U.S. reaction to Egypt’s elections. Despite the Obama administration’s inability to persuade President Mubarak to accept international election monitors, showing support for political reform and human rights in Egypt has value even if Mubarak continues to stonewall.
Egyptian political figures discuss the country’s political climate in the lead-up to parliamentary elections on November 28.
Growing support from opposition movements and broad sectors of the Egyptian public in favor of electoral monitoring greatly reduces the credibility of claims by regime supporters that the public is against the idea of international monitoring, and make it much more difficult to convince the international community that observers would not be welcomed in Egypt.
A description of formal election monitoring laws and the evolution in supervision of Egyptian elections.
