#Egypt referendum voting irregularities?

Dec. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- By Aishah Schwartz

CAIRO, EGYPT – On Saturday Egyptians in ten governates, including Cairo and Alexandria, cast their ballots in the first round of voting on the highly controversial draft constitution pitting supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafi allies against revolutionaries supporting a state governed under secular traditions and an Islamic character.

As voting, extended an additional two hours to 11PM, continued into the night, most of the opposition, including the new coalition opposition National Salvation Front (NSF) were decrying "tens of violation complaints from different governorates".

Among the irregularities surfacing on social media and TV, it was reported by news agencies that some 1,500 Egyptian women blocked a main road in Alexandria, claiming a judge had prevented them from voting because they weren't veiled.

Violations also included polling centers without judges to oversee the process, civil employees illegally replacing the judges, ballot papers not officially stamped per regulations and Christian voters being turned away.

The most common violation, as claimed by the NSF and reported in EAWorldView, was Muslim Brotherhood members inside polling stations trying to persuade citizens to vote Yes. The photo accompanying this article was taken at 9 PM in Alexandria at Ali Gad School it Sidi Bisher - note the two men sitting beside the wall with papers and a laptop. The voter taking the photo also reported that the que of citizens waiting to cast their ballots was 50 meters long, adding that it was highly unlikely that the last vote would be cast before the 11PM deadline.

By morning news agencies began reporting that the Islamists had taken the first round of voting with 56.51% yes to 43.49% voting no.

Balloting will continue for the remaining governates including Hurghada on Saturday, December 22. Will the irregularities reported in the first round of voting be repeated in the second round?

"Is holding the referendum under improper judicial supervision, clear lack of security, and violations the road to stability? or is it playing with the nation's fate? Responsibility comes with Governance," Liberal opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted late Saturday.

EAWorldView's philosophy that a WorldView has to recognize the aspirations, concerns, and activities of those in other countries without putting Washington at the center of that perspective is a concept that perhaps Egyptians revolutionaries aspire toward as well - only it would be without an Islamist agenda being the center of that perspective.

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