Egypt ordered to give poll monitors unfettered access

Egypt ordered to give poll monitors unfettered access
CAIRO – A Cairo court ruled on Sunday that human rights and civic groups should be given unfettered access to monitor this month’s parliamentary elections after several filed suit against the electoral commission last week.

The court acknowledged “the right for civic organizations to monitor the vote inside and outside polling stations,” a judiciary official told AFP.

The NGOs had protested a decision by Justice Minister Mahmud Abuleil, who chairs the electoral commission, allowing them to monitor the month-long elections only with permission from the state-sponsored National Human Rights Council.

The court’s decision “is a victory as it affirms the right for NGOs to monitor the vote without conditions,” said Negad al-Borai from the Group for Democratic Development.

He said NGOs were planning to send lists of some 2,000 monitors’ names to the electoral commission on Monday. The three-stage elections for 444 members of parliament begin two days later.

Rights groups were allowed to monitor a September 7 presidential election but in many cases they reported their representatives were denied access to polling stations or even beaten up.