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.