Egypt poll 'not fair'

2005-09-08 07:28

Jean-Marc Mojon

Cairo - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was expected on Thursday to win a fifth term in power after an election tipped as a major democratic step but marred by reports of widespread fraud.

As vote counting began across the Arab world's populous country, Wednesday's historic election drew a barrage of fraud allegations from Mubarak's rivals and independent monitors.

Forced voting, paid voters, unmanned polling stations, missing indelible ink were only some of the accusations reported by monitors, who pinned most of the blame on Mubarak's supporters.

Results were not expected before late Thursday at the earliest, but the country's judges - tasked with supervising the polling process - had warned before the vote that they would not endorse them.

Small turnout

Government officials were pleased with the polling process however.

"Despite the few violations mentioned by some... we are in front of a unique and an unprecedented experience," Information Minister Anas al-Fiqi said after polling stations closed.

"The electoral process until 22:00 was as good as could have been envisioned," said electoral commission secretary general Osama Attawiya.

But opposition activists, who demonstrated on Wednesday to urge a boycott of an election they deemed unfair, were already planning protests against the election for later in the week.

Estimates released by the four-term president's main rival, Ghad party leader Ayman Nur, indicated that turnout stood between 15 and 20% in rural areas and hovered between 3 and 5% in cities.

A top aide to Nur - who described the vote as a "defining moment in Egypt's history" - claimed the fiery 40-year-old lawyer should obtain between 30 and 55% of the vote if the election was not rigged.

The Wafd party of Nur's main rival for second spot, Numan Gumaa, also alleged "unacceptable abuses" during the voting on the part of Mubarak supporters.

"I am very disppointed. I was not expecting a perfect election... but the extent of the irregularities and their premeditation was unacceptable," senior Wafd official Munir Abdel Nur.

Mubarak, the 77-year-old former air force commander who has ruled Egypt for 24 years, was the first of the 10 candidates to cast his ballot and was greeted by a large group of chanting supporters.

Independent monitors reported a litany of irregularities at polling stations, complaining they had been beaten, apprehended and interrogated by security services in several places.

Several rights groups said Mubarak supporters actively campaigned throughout the day and reported that some had voted on behalf of other people.

The regime has trumpeted the poll as a watershed in the country's democratisation, but the Muslim Brotherhood - Egypt's best-organised opposition force - was barred from fielding a candidate as it remains banned.

- AFP