Money leads the way in the second half of the first dayin Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections 2015

Cairo 18th October 2015

Money leads the way in the second half of the first dayin Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections 2015

In its framework of monitoring elections from a gender perspective, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) field observers continue to followup on the first day of two days first stage of voting in Egypt’s Parliamentary Election 2015 reporting the followingviolations:

Mobilizing voters

–          In BeniSueif governorate, BeniSueifBiba constituency, El-Manshiya elementary school and Al SalamSchool, one of the independent candidates attempted to mobilize voters.

–          In Beheira governorate, in Damanhour constituency, Fouad AwyesSecondary School in Abu Matamirarea, one of the party attempted mobilize women through driving them to the polling station throughmicrobuses.

–          In Alexandria governorate in Montazeh second constituency (Abu Qir), in Magdi Abu Zeid Al-Azhar Institute School, there was an attempt to mobilize voters in favor of a particular candidate by voters through transferring them through his own school buses.

Influencing Voters

– In Giza governorate, in Imbaba Electoral constituency, in in Imbaba Youth Club polling station number 10, there are a number of young men nearby the school trying to lobby voters to cast their vote for a certain candidate.

– In Qena governorate, Qawes Electoral constituency, Tahrir School, polling station number 23 women, the candidates’ representatives are telling the female voters who to vote for.

– In Sohag governorate, El Makhbaz Al Aalyconstituency, Al Damrani School, there are influencing of voters for a certain candidate.

– In Assuit governorate seventh constituency, Abanoub Al Fateh, the polling station in Mogama’ Bani Marr School, there are campaigns against voting for women by the representatives of male candidates.

– In the New Valley governorate, first constituency, AL Kharga, Al Wadi Girls School,  the representatives of some candidates are prompting voters to cast their vote for certain candidates, which led the members of the army forces in the stations to expel the representatives outside the polling stations.

In Alexandria governorate, Gomrok Electoral constituency and Al Aatarin, Al MAnshiya School, the representative of one of the party lists is trying to influence voters.

Continuation of electoral campaigning

– In Giza Governorate, Badrashin constituency, Mohammed Fareed School, Atef Al-Islamboli School, Ahmed Orabi School, there was a laptop used in front of polling stations to direct voters to some of the candidates claiming that they are helping the voters to know the number of their polling station.

– In Alexandria governorate’s, in Monatazeh second constituency (Abu Qir), Magdi Abu Zeid Al-Azhar Institute School, there was some campaigning for an independent candidate in front of the polling stations.

– In Beheira governorate, Damanhour Bandar Circle, one of the parties’ representatives was trying to influence voters in front of the polling stations and at the doors of mosques.

Vote-buying

–          In Alexandria Governorate Muharram Bekconstituency, there was vote-buying in favor of one of the candidates inreturn for money between 50 and 100 EGP.

–          In governorate of Assiut, seventh constituency ofAbnoubAl Fateh, MogamaaMabaniBani Marr School, there was vote buying by 200 pounds, 100 EGP in advance and the other 100 after the vote.

–          In MarsaMatrouhgovernorate, Hamamconstituency, General Secondary School in AlexandriaStreet, there is a phenomenon of vote-buying. As in the morning, the vote was worth 150 EGP compared to 200 EGPin the afternoon by both men and women trying to convince female voters to cast their ballots in favor of a certain candidate

Administrative errors

–          In the New Valley governorate, the first electoral constituency, in Al Kharga and Baris, Baris Youth Center School, polling station number 33, the candidate Hamdi Hassan filed a case that 20 forms out of a total of 683 candidates went missing.

–          In Qena in the fifth constituency of Farshoot, Al Aisrata preparatory school, polling stations number 32, 33, 34, the Judge is slowing women’s voting process without realizing the culture of the village which does not encourage women’s participating in public activities. This led many women to leave without casting their ballots.

Exploiting Children in Electoral Campaigning

–          In Beheira governorate, Bandar Damnhourconstituency, one of the party lists used children to distribute campaigning material in front of the polling stations in the constituency.

Closure of some polling stations before time

–          In Giza governorate, BulacDakrour constituency in Mostafa Kamel School, the Judge responsible for the polling station number 28 closed the station before the set time as there were no female voters.

Contact ECWR operation room through the following numbers:

01099971723,

 01008803362,

25282176

Or through ECWR’s Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/ECWRonline?fref=ts