Egyptian press last week centered on the upcoming elections, including the issue of election monitoring and the quota of seats allocated for women in Parliament. It also highlighted statements by the Egyptian Prime Minister related to Egypt’s Presidential race scheduled for next year and the ruling National Democratic Party’s potential candidate. In addition to those top stories, a report was highlighted by local media that shed light on Egyptians’ expenditure on communication, which amounted to more than 11 billion Egyptian pounds ($2 billion) in only in three months.
Al-Shorouk daily newspaper highlighted statements by a diplomat, who declined to be named, and who told the newspaper that despite the confirmation of the President of the Delegation of the European Commission to Egypt, Ambassador Marc Franco, the EU would not monitor the parliamentary elections in November. Some member states have submitted proposals for follow-ups on the electoral process on an informal basis, the source said.
The diplomatic source continued to say that the last meeting of the EU ambassadors in Cairo, after the summer vacation, addressed several topics, including the electoral process in Egypt, pointing out that some member states had “proposed sending one diplomat from each embassy to see what is happening in the various electoral commissions and to compile these views in a report in the end.”
The diplomat added that the EU is considering this step, as “elections in Egypt are an important event.” According to the source, the EU “does not want to impose itself in an inappropriate manner or to do anything contrary to the Egyptian law, customs and traditions.”
For his part, the Chairman of the Delegation of the European Commission in Egypt, Marc Franco, said the “task of each embassy is to inform its country of what is happening in the country and it is therefore natural to send reports on the elections,” but that there was no arrangements have been agreed to regulate monitoring the elections by the European Union.
In somewhat related news, local press highlighted statements by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, who said that Egypt will not face difficulty in implementing the transition of power, and said there is “no place to ask questions about the alternative because we already have a leader, and our country’s strong reputation about human capital. It will not be difficult for us as a nation to implement the transfer of power.”
The President of the Egyptian Cabinet had received several questions about the scenarios of the transition of power in Egypt, at the conclusion of meetings of the Euromoney Conference. Nazif said in response to these questions that “the question of transfer of power has become a controversial issue, but Egypt has seen many cases of transition of power, most recently after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, and the transition was easy.”
Nazif also added that “we have several parties and before the presidential election, we would announce the name of each candidate, and to assure that the elections will be conducted transparently, and we have the ability to provide a model for the whole world that proves our ability to achieve political reform.”
In a related context, Al-Dostour highlighted calls by The National Council for Women for the protection of Women candidates in the Parliamentary elections from bullying.
Farkhanda Hassan, Secretary General of the council, called for the “elimination of and the use of money and to take measures to put a financial limit, to spend on electoral campaigns, to ensure that the elections were held in a civilized way.”
She emphasized the importance of providing security protection for the female candidates and to “anyone who has the right to vote, whether man or woman inside and outside the electoral commissions in addition to severe punishment in case of any irregularities in the electoral commissions.”
The council conducted a study that reported bullying during electoral campaigns “stands as the biggest obstacle to women in the elections and could make women refrain from contesting the elections for fear of exposure to violence.”
The council said it may offer a bill to amend Act No. 73 of 1956 regulating the exercise of political rights, and law 38 of 1972 on the People`s Assembly, “in a way that provides for cancellation of the candidate from the list of candidates if he or she exceeds the financial ceiling for the election campaign, or having to give bribes to voters, as well as to tighten the penalties provided for the crimes of violence facing the electoral commissions.”
Another issue the media covered was a report issued by the ministry of communications that said the total expenses of Egyptians on communications during the three months amounted to 11 billion Egyptian pounds ($2 billion) in the period from April to June 2010 and the total revenues of communications companies amounted to 40.3 billion Egyptian pounds ($7 billion) and that “operating income for companies operating in the telecommunications sector and information technology rose by an annual growth rate of 8 percent, bringing the average monthly spending on communications by Egyptians to 3.8 billion pounds per month.”
The report emphasized that Internet subscribers by mobile phone has reached 6,000,022, while the number of users and Internet connections through mobile phone companies, via USB modem, in Egypt, was nearing one million users, or 36 percent of total Internet users in Egypt.