Egyptian NGO organizes training for Senate vote observers ‘to ensure professional monitoring’

CAIRO – 20 July 2020: The Egyptian Coalition for Human Rights and Development (ECHRD) has organized a training course for observers of the Senate elections, set to be held in August, with the participation of representatives of 25 non-governmental organizations.

The training course was introduced by Abdel Nasser Kandil, head of the Egyptian Group for Parliamentary Studies. It has discussed with the attendees monitoring mechanism and the duties and rights of observers.

The ECHRD plans to organize about 15 training courses in Greater Cairo, Delta and Upper Egypt, with the aim of ensuring a professional monitoring of elections that is consistent with follow-up mechanisms in international human rights covenants.

 

Head of the NEA Lasheen Ibrahim said on Sunday elections will be held on Sunday, August 9 and Monday, August 10 for Egyptians residing outside Egypt, while locals will cast their ballot on Tuesday, August 11 and Wednesday, August 12.

The results of the first round will be announced no later than August 19.

The run-off will be held on September 6-7 for expats and on September 8-9 for locals. The final results shall be released on September 16.

The electoral committees have closed their doors Saturday in the eighth and last day for receiving candidacy requests of Senate candidates, Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said 912 candidates have submitted their papers for the coming elections.

The authority is expected to announce the preliminary list of candidates along with their election symbols in a couple of widely circulated newspapers on Sunday.

Ibrahim urged all parties participating in the election to adhere to all precautionary measures to curb the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The NEA issued a decision on the formation of committees to follow up on the election and report any campaigning violations nationwide.

The NEA detailed that such violations include bullying, the use of religious or discrimination symbols, or worshipping places in the campaigning and posing threats to national unity, among others.

The member of the National Elections Committee, Khaled Eraq, said that the committee has taken several measures to complete the course of the Senate elections process in light of the challenges facing Egypt, especially with the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Eraq confirmed that the voter database contains approximately 63 million eligible voters in Senate election.

A member of the National Committee added, during the workshop organized by the National Press Authority (NPA) on Saturday on Senate election, that the authority increased the number of polling stations due to the Coronavirus pandemic by about 17,000.