Climate activists in Egypt use art to send message

An aerial view shows the shape of a scarab holding the sun, made by Egyptian artist Sarah Rifaat, in the Wadi Natrun desert, outside Cairo on November 26, 2010. (AFP PHhoto/ Patrick Baz)

By Maggie Hyde/ AP November 28, 2010, 10:53 am

More than 200 students and environmental activists gathered Friday in the desert outside Egypt's capital to form an image of a giant scarab visible from space to raise climate change awareness. The image of the beetle holding a sun in its pinchers — a symbol of resurrection for the ancient Egyptians — was documented by a satellite and a photographer working atop an onsite crane. Similar photos have been taken or are planned in 12 places around the world in what organizers says is the first international climate art project. The initiative is named Project 350 for what scientists say is the safest maximum level of carbon units in the atmosphere. The current level is estimated at more than 380 units. Organizers say they aim to reach those world leaders who don't believe climate change is a problem and to push for more aggressive emission cuts. A United Nations climate conference is scheduled for next week in Cancun, Mexico. Other photographed images — all of them using people — have included a giant elephant in New Delhi, an eagle in Los Angeles and a cyclone in Mexico City. Egypt has a lot to lose from effects of climate change such as rising sea levels. Activists and scientists have warned that much of the Nile Delta, Egypt's agricultural lifeline, could disappear if sea levels rise, in addition to higher temperatures drying up the country's already limited water sources. "The Nile Delta is one of the three most vulnerable places to climate change in the world," said Sarah Rafaat, a graphic designer and activist who organized the event. "It's a very strong statement, that in a developing country, youth want to do something about this," she said. Among the participants were students Haggar Yasser and Reem Hemida, who heard about the event from their school principal. The agreed that their generation was going to have to deal with any effects of climate change and said they hoped world leaders would sit up and listen. "They should know more about the world," said Yasser. "They should care more."

MB candidate says violations committed in Shoubra El-Kheima

Voters stand outside the polling station in Shubra El-Kheima. (Daily News Egypt Photo/ Marwa Al-A'sar)

By Marwa Al-A’sar /Daily News Egypt November 28, 2010, 5:34 pm

CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed El-Beltagy accused the authorities Sunday of committing violations during the People’s Assembly (PA) elections in the western Shoubra El-Kheima constituency in favor of National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates. “My representatives were denied entry into the polling stations in Shoubra El-Kheima [in the Qaliubiya governorate], though they had official procurements issued by the registry office,” El-Beltagy told Daily News Egypt. “At first only 48 of my 289 representatives were allowed by the authorities to enter the polling stations because they had permits issued by the interior ministry,” El-Beltagy, an MP in the previous parliamentary round, added. “Yet state security officers kicked out these 48 representatives … this morning,” said El-Beltagy. “Only representatives of the NDP were allowed to be present there.” However, a number of employees in charge of a polling station in Shoubra El-Kheima told Daily News Egypt that none of the Brotherhood delegates ever showed up. For its part, the NDP denied El-Beltagy’s story. “Such [claims], which aim to raise doubts about the electoral process, are totally wrong,” NDP senior member Mohamed Kamal told reporters at an impromptu press conference. “The presence of these candidates who belong to an illegal group, is in itself a manipulation of law and … a ballot-rigging,” Kamal stated. Candidates of the Brotherhood, which is officially banned from politics according to Egyptian law, typically run as independents. Kamal said that the representatives of some NDP candidates were not able to get into the polling stations either. El-Beltagy further claimed that voters were brought by buses to vote collectively, and that many of them voted without dipping their fingers in phosphoric ink, which drew suspicion that they might have cast their votes more than once. “Many voters were directed by the polling station officials to elect certain candidates … I saw [for] myself an employee at the polling station checking the voting card before allowing the voter to put it inside the ballot box,” El-Beltagy said. El-Beltagy said he reported the violations to the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) and that he will file a lawsuit to annul election results in the constituency. The SEC official spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment. “The [regime and the government] refused any international monitoring of elections because they want … the electoral process to be held in the dark, with nobody knowing what is going on,” stated El-Beltagy. Meanwhile, one of El-Beltagy’s allies was allegedly kidnapped by the police from a polling station at a middle school in Shoubra El-Kheima. The Brotherhood fielded 135 candidates for this year's parliamentary election. A total of 508 total PA seats need to be filled for the new upcoming parliament. Ever since the Brotherhood announced on Oct. 9 its decision to contest candidates for the PA polls, police forces have detained hundreds of Brotherhood members. Most of the detained Brotherhood members have since been released. Earlier last week, the Brotherhood announced that about 1,200 of its group's members — including eight candidates and seven women — were arrested. In 2005, the Brotherhood won 88 seats — almost 20 percent of the 445 seats, which established it as the largest opposition group in the PA.

Alexandria votes amid accusations of violations and misinformation

Egyptians crowed around to check their registration ID cards prior to casting their vote at a school campus in the Al-Seuoff district, Alexandria. (AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki)

By Heba Fahmy/Daily News Egypt November 28, 2010, 6:27 pm

ALEXANDRIA: Egypt’s much anticipated People’s Assembly (PA) elections kicked off Sunday amid accusations from opposition groups about violations in Alexandria. Many independent and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated candidates said that none of their representatives were allowed inside the polling stations, despite the fact that they had notarized permits. “I was talking to the chairmen of the polling stations [to allow my representatives in], but a police officer barged in and shouted at them, saying that he was in charge of everything and [that] they had no say in the matter,” Adel Abdel Kerim, independent candidate for Al-Raml district in Alexandria, told Daily News Egypt. “I went into Polling Station No. 25 early in the morning and I found the ballot box filled up with ballots [even though] the voting hadn’t even started,” Abdel Kerim added. Aly Badr, a representative of independent Al-Raml district candidate Rabi Abdel Qader, told Daily News Egypt that he was also prevented from entering the polling station despite possessing a notarized permit. “They prevented me from entering at 7 am,” Ashraf Ibrahim, a teacher and representative of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated independent candidate Sobhy Saleh, told Daily News Egypt. “After an hour and a half I entered the polling station as a voter without showing them my permit to represent [Saleh]. “After voting, I showed the chairman of the polling station my permit as a representative, but he said there were already 10 representatives inside and that I was late,” Ibrahim added. Ibrahim stated that all the representatives inside the polling station were either representing NDP candidates or independent candidates — no Muslim Brotherhood representatives were present. Boushra Al-Samni, a Brotherhood candidate for a women’s quota seat in Alexandria, told Daily News Egypt, “I saw people distributing flyers for [Minister of Local Development and Alexandria governorate NDP candidate Abdel Salam] Al-Mahgoub, although that’s against the electoral law.” According to the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC), candidates’ campaigning was to start on the day the final list of candidates was announced (Nov. 14) and end one day before Election Day (Nov. 27). However, flyers supporting Brotherhood candidates like Al-Samni were also being distributed in front of the polling stations in Al-Raml district. Al-Samni added that state security barged into a polling station in Koom El Dikka in Al-Raml district and put 50 ballots in the ballot boxes without any resistance from the chairmen of the polling station or from security forces. Saleh, who is running for the professionals’ seat in Al-Raml district, accused the National Democratic Party (NDP) of distributing flyers that stated that the Brotherhood had withdrawn from the elections in Al-Raml district due to the violations the government made against the banned group. “We announce our withdrawal from the elections to see how things will be without the Brotherhood in Egypt,” the statement read. “I’m trying to tour all the polling stations in the constituency to prove to the people that I didn’t withdraw from the elections,” Saleh said. “I don’t have any representatives in the whole constituency. “And they call this free and fair elections,” Saleh added. “The people’s free will is being violated.” Saleh also accused the NDP of rallying people from far away districts to vote for the NDP candidates in Al-Raml district illegally. Saleh and his supporters also stated that they were attacked “with swords by “NDP thugs” in front of the Abys Mosque in Al-Raml. Saleh was rushed to Abys Hospital for protection, although he hadn’t incurred any serious injuries. Both Saleh and his supporters were released from the hospital later in the afternoon. The media was also prevented from entering polling stations, as per orders made by various chairmen of Al-Raml district’s polling stations. However, when Al-Mahgoub arrived at the polling stations at Ibn Sina School and Abys, the media was allowed inside to provide coverage of his arrival. Al-Mahgoub denied there being any violations in the polling stations, and said that the elections were fair and transparent. He also stated that that there were representatives for the opposition parties inside the polling stations. “I know [the opposition parties’ representatives are] here, I shook hands with all of them,” Al-Mahgoub told Daily News Egypt. Al-Mahgoub added that the NDP achieved many things in the past five years. “We’ve [improved] a lot of things, including education, health, infrastructure … we spent about $400 million on education [alone],” Mahgoub told Daily News Egypt. “We need democracy and we are working for it.” “I’m voting for me and my children, because it’s a benefit for us and our country,” Ibrahim Ismail Hafez, a former copper company employee, told Daily News Egypt. “[For] the last five years, the Brotherhood … represented the district [in the People’s Assembly]. During [the period in which the Brotherhood represented the area, they didn’t do] anything for anyone. “I went to [Mahgoub] many times in his office, and he was very helpful,” Hafez added. “I want to have a voice in Egypt and [to] prove that I exist,” Mary Moussa, a Social Services college graduate, told Daily News Egypt. “I’m voting for Mahgoub because he has done a lot of good things [for the people].” “There were no problems at all, and there was no rigging in the elections,” Tarek Gheneimy, a marble worker, told Daily News Egypt. “Mahgoub doesn’t need to rig the elections. He’s the one who established Alexandria.” Mahgoub is the former governor of Alexandria and was popular during his term there. “Everybody loves Mahgoub, whether they care about politics or not,” Gheneimy added. Another voter disagreed. “The best people in the political arena are the Muslim Brotherhood,” teacher Gomaa El Zoheir told Daily News Egypt. “They have done so much for the people of Egypt. “In Al-Raml district there are NDP thugs preventing Brotherhood voters from getting to the polling stations, and all these microbuses are voters rallied by the NDP,” El Zoheir added. “Inside Al Soyouf Youth Center, the NDP is giving the people electoral cards … NDP flyers, and [are providing] them with microbuses to take them to the polling stations in return for money,” Brotherhood supporter Montasser Solieman told Daily News Egypt. Egyptian Minister Mufid Shehab casts his vote in Moharam Bek district, in Alexandria on Nov. 28. (AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki)

Voting irregularities at Helwan, Hadayek El-Kobba polls

By Sarah Carr /Daily News Egypt November 28, 2010, 6:39 pm

HELWAN/CAIRO: Araby Farouq Mashhour, a representative of MP candidate Gomaa El-Badawy in El-Saf, explained that even though he had a general power of attorney (POA), he was told at the polling station that it has to be stamped in either a security directorate or a police station, neither of which consented to do so. Mashhour alleged that special POAs were only given to representatives of National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates, and that El-Badawy was only able to obtain 16 special POAs despite having originally applied for 400. POAs allow candidate representatives to be present inside the polling stations as votes are cast and counted. He also alleged that a state security investigations officer, Atef El-Hosseiny, prevented representatives of Muslim Brotherhood candidates from entering polling stations. El-Hosseiny told Daily News Egypt that this was not true. Daily News Egypt, together with an election monitor from the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), was also prevented from entering a polling station after being told that permission to enter must be given by the director of the polling station’s constituency. However, El-Hosseiny allowed both Daily News Egypt and the EOHR monitor into a polling station in the same constituency less than two minutes away, despite still not having permission from that constituency's director. Upon entering the polling station, there were absolutely no voters and, at 11 am, the two ballot boxes contained only a few votes. A reporter for Daily News Egypt was instructed by El-Hosseiny to leave the station after approximately five minutes. Elections observers reported at approximately 5 pm that the police had closed nine polling stations in El-Saf constituency. In Helwan, hundreds of supporters of independent People’s Assembly (PA) candidate Mostafa Bakry congregated outside a polling station. Voters were permitted to enter the polling station in small groups, according to a police officer on the scene, in order to prevent overcrowding. At a polling station in Hadayek El Kobba, Cairo, it was alleged that an NDP supporter was apprehended while possessing multiple ballots in favor of the NDP, which he planned to place in the ballot box. Essam El-Dib — a PA candidate for Hadayek El Kobba who is representing a party that is officially boycotting the election, Al-Ghad Party — said that “fraud began at 8 am” when the head of the Hadayek El Kobba police station refused to give POAs to candidates’ representatives so that they could enter the polling stations. El-Dib stated that NDP candidates’ representatives, however, were allowed to enter polling stations. El-Dib responded by filing a complaint with the police and staging a two-hour sit-in inside the police station. Gharib El-Sayed, another Hadayek El Kobba PA hopeful who is running as an independent candidate, said that the government is running the elections “with an iron fist” by closing polling stations and preventing voters from casting their ballots. “If the NDP wants to do things this way, why doesn’t it just appoint MPs?” El-Sayed asked. “There are no elections. It’s all fraud, fraud, fraud.”

Fallout between NDP candidates leaves one man shot, in critical condition

Candidate supporters fired at the poll station at the Sheikh Zowayed Girls Secondary School; gunshot shown went through the school’s wall. (Daily News Egypt Photo/Abdel-Rahman Hussein)

By Abdel-Rahman Hussein /Daily News Egypt November 28, 2010, 4:27 pm

AL-ARISH: A fallout between representatives of two National Democratic Party candidates resulted in several shootings in North Sinai, where elections were marred with tribal tension rather than tension between political parties. Hussein Salama Abu Zerei was shot on Sunday in Al-Khansaa poll station, a village next to Sheikh Zowayed, after an argument erupted between representatives of two NDP candidates Fayez Abu Harb and Suleiman Arada. Abu Zerei was taken to Al-Arish General Hospital. By Sunday evening he was in a critical condition. Abu Zerei was one of the supporters of Abu Harb, who is a member of the Rishayat tribe, while Arada is from the Sawarkeh tribe. Clashes ensued after representatives of one of the candidates tore up documents of the other candidate, which led to a shootout, leaving Abu Harb and another man injured. In retaliation, supporters of Abu Harb descended in a convoy of about seven trucks on Sheikh Zowayed Girls Secondary School, a poll station where Arada has strong support, and fired at the poll station, according to eye witnesses. Gun shots are visible on the poll station’s wall as well as the school’s building. Earlier, more clashes in Ahmed Orabi School in Al-Arish resulted in the injury of one man. Security was light, with officers mostly staying inside polling stations. Elections in North Sinai were marred by vote buying and selling, and generally attracting a low voter turnout. Daily News Egypt witnessed a man attempting to sell 17 votes to the Tagammu Party candidate.

Gov't refutes rights groups' report of 8 election-related deaths

A Port Said candidate's supporters dance in the streets. Port Said saw the highest number of arrests, up to 100, according to rights groups. (Daily News Egypt Photo/Hassan Ibrahim)

By Tamim Elyan /Special to Daily News Egypt November 28, 2010, 6:18 pm

CAIRO: Human rights groups reported Sunday the deaths of eight people during the People's Assembly (PA) elections, as well as 45 clashes and 180 total arrests by security forces. But the Ministry of Information and the Supreme Electoral Commission said that no one died in connection with the elections. According to the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, the eight deaths occurred in Omraneya (Giza), Al-Raml (Alexandria), Farkous, Wadi Notroun, Menouf, and Al-Arish over stabbings and health emergencies. Clashes were reported in Suez, Hamoul, Beni Suef, Sohag, Abdeen, and involved the use of knives between thugs and candidates’ supporters, while Qena saw gun shootouts occur between supporters of rival candidates. Port Said witnessed 100 arrests, the largest number out of all of Egypt's constituencies. An overwhelming majority of those detained were allegedly supporters of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated independent candidate Akram Al-Shaer. “There might be individual incidents, but the [National Democratic Party (NDP)] has given clear instructions to stay away from violence and not [adopt any approaches] that violate the electoral process,” said Mohamed Kamal, the NDP’s secretary of political education and training and the head of the NDP’s youth committee. A total of 5,064 candidates competed for 508 PA seats. Of the 508, 444 are regular PA seats elected from 222 districts, while the 64 seats reserved for women only under the women's quota will be elected from 32 constituencies. Seventy-six civil society organizations applied to observe the PA elections, and a total of over 6,000 independent observers have been recognized, the Ministry of Information said in a statement. “We noticed low turnout rates and calmness for a long period at the beginning of the day; however, candidates’ representatives were denied access to facilitate vote rigging," said Ahmed Sameeh, head of Al Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-violence Studies and member of the Egyptian Coalition for Monitoring Elections. “Notably, police didn't resort to violence, but managed the electoral process haphazardly, as some requested national IDs for voters to cast their votes while others demanded voting cards,” he added. According to Sameeh, NGOs were denied access to voting stations but managed to get in “by their own means.” The results are set to be announced on Monday. The Brotherhood and various opposition parties’ candidates claimed severe fraud in many constituencies, as their representatives were denied access to voting stations or had their authorizations torn, while others accused poll stations’ supervisors of rigging votes. The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) decided to invalidate compromised ballot boxes in District 7, which encompasses Kafr El-Dadwar in Beheira governorate. At the Zogag School and the Nashew El-Bahary voting centers, polling stations 177, 178, and 179 were attacked by candidate supporters, and the ballot boxes were destroyed, the SEC said in a statement. In a separate incident at the Sayed Sarhan School voting center in the Kom El-Baraka area, ballots were stolen from polling stations 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218 and 219. Forty-three of the perpetrators were arrested by the police and charges were filed with the Prosecutor General. A number of candidates, like Hamden Sabahy in Al-Hamoul district and the Brotherhood’s Mahmoud Amer in Ousim in the Sixth of October district, withdrew from the elections due to “heavy security violations and a lack of fairness.” “Sabahy’s allegations [are nothing but] lies,” Ahmed Ezz, NDP secretary for organizational affairs, stated at an ad hoc press conference in response to a reporter. Ezz said that Sabahy pulled out of Al-Hamoul and Al-Borolos constituencies because he felt that he was going to lose to NDP candidate Essam Abdel-Ghaffar. Ezz denied Sabahy’s allegations that his representatives were denied entry into the polling stations and that Abdel-Ghaffar’s supporters attacked them. Ezz also accused Sabahy’s supporters of blocking the highway in Al-Borolos, and setting tires on fire. The ruling NDP, led by President Hosni Mubarak, is virtually assured of a sweeping victory. The party controlled nearly 70 percent of the outgoing, 454-seat parliament elected in 2005, and is likely to increase its majority in this year's election. Candidates of the Brotherhood, Egypt's most organized opposition force despite being officially banned by the Egyptian government, usually run in elections as independents. Holding 20 percent of the seats in the outgoing legislature, the Brotherhood is aiming to win 30 percent of the seats in the new upcoming chamber despite having been subjected to a fierce government crackdown on candidates and their supporters since the group officially announced its participation in the 2010 PA elections. -Additional reporting by Marwa Al-A'sar