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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Books Interview Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Integrity by degrees
By Magdi Mehanna*
While the government assures us that full judicial supervision provides a sufficient guarantee against intervention in the elections -- the first round of which will take place less than a week from now -- debates are ongoing as to whether, and to what degree, the integrity of the electoral process will hold fast in practice.
Judicial supervision is not in itself the problem, the opposition is quick to retort. Rather, the actual electoral procedures are beset by drawbacks and pitfalls. To mention one example: Will the task of transporting the ballot boxes from subsidiary to main electoral committees be undertaken by the police, or will the issue be left to the discretion of the judge in question? Some -- and I count myself among them -- have suggested that the votes should be counted inside the polling stations and the results then communicated; that way many problems, complications and doubts concerning the integrity of the elections could be avoided.
The greatest problem, however, is that people will be allowed to vote without showing ID papers. This gives them the chance to vote in more than one station and offers a vast amount of leeway for intervention. What can the judges do? No doubt intervention will take place, the law will no doubt attempt to rectify the problem, and the People's Assembly will, as always, refuse to implement the rule of law. What is even more disturbing this time is that the judiciary will be unnecessarily implicated, so that people's faith in our judicial system will be undermined still more.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is managing editor of Al-Wafd.
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