- 2010 election update
- November 30, 2010
- 3 minutes read
Observers slam Egypt’s polls
The elections in Egypt has left the country anything but satisfied, wide held rigging, vote buying, ballot stuffing, violence and arbitrary arrests laced the parliament poll.
The US an avid observer has been vocal announcing that it is "dismayed by reports of election-day interference and intimidation by security forces which are appointed by the Interior Ministry. The US state department spokesman Philip Crowley has stressed that the US is also disappointed by reports in the pre-election period of disruption of campaign activities of opposition candidates and arrests of their supporters despite allegations that there would be integrity in the polls.
Egypt’s strongest opposition the Muslim Brotherhood denounced the votes claiming they were rigged and invalid and have failed in the first round to secure any seats and only 27 MB candidates from 13 governorates are expected to contest in the second round.
The government however unsurprisingly says the poll was fair despite images and testimonies of mass faked ballots and thugs intimidating voters at polling stations, and protests erupted around Egypt.
According to reports the ruling NDP party has won 170 seats outright.
The Wafd Party criticised the polls noting that the government violated a "presidential promise" to hold free and fair elections. It called on the government’s election commission’s deaf ears to postpone the announcement of the official results until it had investigated claims of voting violations.
According to analysts the results of the poll could leave the ruling party of President Hosni Mubarak with an embarrassingly large majority in the new parliament further undermining the credibility of a process in which few Egyptians even bother to participate.