Election Coverage
March 27, 2007
20 minutes read

Eye-Witness On Rigging Referendum

Rigging the vote in the constituency of Abdin was crystal clear

The following is my testimony of what happened in this central Cairo area:

At 4.00pm, it was all quiet in all election committees; I entered the voting centre in which I am registered to cast my vote, Al-Wihda Al-Arabiya school, Al-Saqayeen, Abdin.

From outside, the school was filled with signs bearing the National Democratic Party’s slogans urging citizens to vote yes for the constitution amendment.

It was completely quiet inside the school; there were was only a group of young men bearing badges of the National Democratic Party and holding election rolls… but there is no voter.

I inquired about the committee in which I will cast my vote, and I was given a paper that bears the emblem of the National Democratic Party to go to cast my vote; I went upstairs because the voting was taking place in two floors and I passed by the committees quietly… and I watched the scandal.. .

I passed by committee 21 (women), committee 23 (women), and committee 22 (men); at the door of committee 21 (women), the employee who was sitting alone in front of the ballot box did not notice me while he was writing in the election rolls. Because he did not notice me, I started come closer till became in front of him and was surprised that he was signing in front of voters names . The rolls were still empty while the ballot box was filled with voting papers. Suddenly, the employee noticed me and asked me “what do you want”; I pretended that I was searching for my election committee and went out.

The same incident recurred in committee 23 (men); I found the employee signing in the electoral rolls in front of the voters names while the ballot boxes are full of ballot papers although there is no signature in the rolls except those forged by the employee.

A few steps from the committee, I brought out my camera and started to take photos; at this point those in the voting centre realized that there is a “stranger”; They dealt with me cautiously at first; a lawyer came near me and introduced himself to me that he is a lawyer, Abdin district council member, and secretary general for the NDP youth in Abdin; he tried to know my identity but I didn’t reply to any question; in less than a minute, a group of police officers and elements and some NDP members surrounded me; because the policemen know me, they understood what I am doing; they took me politely to the school gate, and I understood that they are dismissing me in a decent manner; I thanked them and left after all the police department escorted me to the school door; I asked them to take a photo of the school door but they refused .. then I left.

What I noticed was that the instructions given to them was filling the boxes with stuffed ballot papers from the early morning and wait till 5.00pm to be sure that no more voter will and start to sign in front voters names in the rolls to prove that they attended; to their misfortune, I watched them red-handed while they were signing in the voters rolls; according to amount of ballot papers in the boxes, I think the fake turnout that will be declared will be no less than 80 % although the school was in fact totally empty.

They definitely dismissed me without casting my vote because I actually wanted to take these photos and to be an eye-witness on this rigging.