Egypt rebuffs EU-US call for election scrutiny

Date: 23/06/05

Egypt's government appears unlikely at this stage to accept EU and US calls to open forthcoming elections to international scrutiny.

The call was made at the summit between George W. Bush and EU leaders earlier this week. Both sides urged President Hosni Mubarrak's administration in Cairo to "play a leadership role" in fostering democratic reform in the Middle East by ensuring that presidential and parliamentary elections expected later this year take place in an environment of free speech and fairness.

But diplomats representing the Cairo government say there is no precedent for allowing international observers to elections.

They argue that Egypt should not have to emulate Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority in accepting foreign supervision of its polls. "There are huge differences between Egypt and countries wrecked by civil war," said one.

Under Egypt's constitution, election supervision has to be undertaken by the judiciary but there is some doubt about what role judges could play this time around.

In an unexpected move, more than 1,500 judges told Mubarrak in May that they would only oversee the polls if a law guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary is approved by the end of June.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for the EU-US call, Mubarrak has made some concessions to the West. First, he made a surprise announcement in February to allow a multi-candidate presidential election. More recently, Ayman Nour, a lawyer who intends to run against Mubarrak in the September presidential poll, has been released from prison. Nour, the leader of a small liberal party, had been jailed following allegedly fabricated charges of forgery.