Election supervisors start heading to governorates Saturday

CAIRO – 23 March 2018: Egyptian judges selected to supervise presidential election will start on Friday receiving tamper-evident envelopes containing the polling station's papers ahead of the three-day voting period which begins on Monday.

The election supervisors, whose polling stations will be outside their residency governorates, will be transferred on Saturday and Sunday to the areas to which they were assigned, so as to ensure opening the electoral centers on time.

According to the National Election Authority (NEA), the presidential elections will be supervised by 18,620 judges (primary and substitute), including 8,420 regular judges, 4,800 administrative prosecutors, 3,300 judges from State Lawsuits Authority and 2,100 judges from State Council.

The NEA announced that the two-day electoral silence will begin on Saturday in accordance with the Egyptian law and the authority’s declared election timetable.

On the other hand, the NEA spokesperson Mahmoud El Sherif, who also serves as the deputy head of the authority, said that the NEA did not detect any electoral violation during the campaigning period of the candidates, stressing the candidates' campaigns’ commitment to the election promotion rules.

The NEA has also banned the publication of any presidential election surveys since Wednesday until the end of the vote.

Security Plan

Meanwhile, Egypt's Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar on Thursday met with a number of ministry officials and high-ranking police officers to review the nationwide security plan for the upcoming presidential elections.

Abdel-Ghaffar warned that security apparatus will deal firmly and decisively with any attempts to disrupt the elections or target vital state institutions with attacks.

During the meeting, the minister received a comprehensive explanation of the security plan, which was drafted in full coordination with the armed forces to ensure the safety of citizens during the three-day election process.

Abdel-Ghaffar followed up via video conference with other security directorates on security plans for main electoral sites and vital facilities during the elections.

He also reviewed plans for the protection of polling stations and procedures to secure main roads leading to polling stations across the country.

Electoral Silence

The NEA announced that the electoral silence period is set for 24 and 25 March. The primary results of the first round of the election will be announced on March 29, where decisions on appeals submitted by candidates, if any, will be made. The final results of the first round will be announced on April 2.

Egyptian expats have been voting abroad on March 16-18 in 139 foreign embassies and consulates across 124 foreign countries.

El Sherif said previously that the NEA will release a detailed report on the election’s participation rate following the end of the voting process for citizens residing in Egypt.

He added that the NEA has not been informed of any obstacles facing voters abroad while casting their ballots, even in Turkey and Qatar, and expressed the authority’s full readiness to address any issues in this regard.

The government and media outlets in Egypt have urged voters to head the polls on the second of the country's presidential election, amid a higher-than-expected turnout in the balloting.

Due to political unrest and a worsening security situation, the elections would not take place in three countries: Yemen, Syria and Libya.

The NEA, headed by counselor Lashin Ibrahim, announced on February 24 the final list for Egypt’s upcoming presidential election including President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Moussa Moustafa Moussa, Head of al-Ghad Party.

Sisi, whose current presidential term will end in June, had won the 2014 presidential elections in a two-man race with nearly 97 percent of the vote.

Many observers and analysts favor Sisi in the current elections. According to the constitution, presidents may serve a maximum of two terms.

According to the NEA, 59 million Egyptians out of a population of 104 million are eligible to vote in the country's 27 governorates.

Egyptian citizens have the right to vote starting 18 years old. Article 2 of the political rights law (Law 45/2014) bans from voting those who suffer from mental disorders or are under judicial interdiction, or who have been convicted of a felony. Active members of the Armed Forces and police are not allowed to vote unless they leave the service or retire.