Crying foul

A leading opposition presidential candidate accuses the state of rigging yesterday's elections, vowing to contest their legitimacy, reports Mona El-Nahhas

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Ayman Nour

"What elections are they talking about? What happened today has nothing to do with elections. It's a repetition of the same old scenario of rigged referendums and elections," 41-year-old presidential candidate and leader of the liberal Ghad Party Ayman Nour told a late-afternoon press conference held at his party's downtown headquarters.

During the conference, Nour, who looked tired if not depressed, cited several examples of violations undermining, in his view, the credibility of the vote. According to Nour, heads of some auxiliary polling stations -- all judges -- allegedly instructed voters to choose Mubarak. Nour further charged that voters who were supposed to cast their ballots in privacy were pushed to vote in public, violating voting regulations. Nour also charged that at some polling stations judges were not able to control the areas immediately outside, where Mubarak supporters purportedly pressed voters to check their ballots beside Mubarak's "crescent" elections symbol.

According to Nour, only Mubarak's supporters were allowed to cast their votes at any constituency polling station without presenting their voting cards, a prerequisite enforced for all others. National Democratic Party (NDP) members and municipality officials are also alleged to have paid voters either LE20 or LE50 to vote Mubarak. Workers for the NDP also promised food to those who cast a Mubarak vote, Nour said.

It is alleged that others went even further, promising voters an Omra (a second order pilgrimage under Islam) if they chose Mubarak.

Adding to the litany of charges, Nour stated that some of his representatives were not allowed to step into certain polling stations. Further, the indelible ink in which voters were supposed to dip their fingers to ensure that they could not vote twice rubbed off quickly, Nour said, showing his own finger on which the ink was barely visible less than an hour after voting. Members of Nour's Ghad Party cited the case of a man who arrived at a polling station in southern Egypt only to find out that somebody had already voted for him.

Nour assured reporters that he is not going to accept results of the elections, vowing to contest them. "They are leading the state to a very dangerous route," he said. Nour flatly accused the government of lying when they promised to stage a fair vote. "It would have been wiser for Hosni Mubarak to win by a small margin or even lose, than win in a fabricated or forged way," he said.

Nour started his electoral tour at 11am in the Bab Al-Shaariya district, where his constituency lies. Amid cheers from his supporters, Nour headed towards the polling station where his name was registered, to cast his vote. Surrounded by cameramen and reporters, Nour hailed the poll as a "defining moment in Egypt's history".

After leaving the polling station, scores of Mubarak's supporters gathered chanting slogans for Mubarak. Nour's supporters responded vocally in favour of their candidate.

After visiting several poll stations in Bab Al-Shaariya, Nour moved to Gamaliya, a district of old Cairo, and then to Helwan suburb, where he made note of several alleged violations. Nour told reporters that he was going to inform them of hundreds of violations that took place in different governorates during a press conference he vowed to hold at the press centre covering elections. Nour was not allowed to enter, however; something that angered him visibly. Nour and supporters then moved to the Ghad Party headquarters to hold the conference.

During the three-week "door-knocking" electoral campaign that ended on Sunday, Nour often seemed confident of success, pushing for the elections to be held in a free and fair manner. Drawing crowds across 16 governorates, Nour acquainted prospective voters with his platform, which included a comprehensive plan to solve the country's many problems.

His campaign, however, was weighed down in controversy. Nour is currently mired in a forgery trial, the hearing of which is set to resume on 25 September. For his part, Nour says the case against him was fabricated by the state in order to ruin his political career.