Reuters withdraws report on election upon SIS request

CAIRO – 30 March 2018: Reuters withdrew on Thursday a report published by the British news agency on 28 March regarding the progress of the electoral process in Egypt after Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) had expressed its complete rejection to the "inaccurate" information mentioned in the report.

The report referred to was replaced with a message to readers saying "the item detailed below is withdrawn because it did not meet Reuters standards." The message was was published through all the media outlets affiliated to the agency worldwide.



Chairperson of SIS, Diaa Rashwan has made direct contacts since yesterday with Reuters officials in London and New York following the flawed report it published on the Egyptian election. Rashwan received a reply from Reuters management that the agency decided to withdraw the report, which is considered an acknowledgment by the agency of the inaccuracy of the report, according to a statement issued by SIS.

Since the start of presiedntial election on March 26, SIS was keen to follow up reports published by all foreign media outlets regarding the electoral process. Through its operations rooms, SIS kept a connection with foreign correspondents who covered the Egyptian polls, asserting that the foeign reporters have reported no complaints or hurdles during their media coverage.

Egypt’s presidential election, which took place between March 26 and 28, witnessed a competition between only two candidates: incumbent President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and head of the el-Ghad Party Moussa Moustafa Moussa.

According to early estimates, Sisi attained a landslide election victory. The final results of the first round will be announced on April 2.