ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, 17 April 2005 — Hundreds of Egyptian judges on Friday threatened to abstain from supervising this year’s presidential election unless the government amends laws curbing their authority.
“We want a truly independent judiciary through which we can protect freedoms and human rights,” prominent judge Hossam Al-Ghiriany said at a meeting of the Alexandria Judges’ Club attended by attended by some 1,500 members.
The warning threatens to disrupt presidential and parliamentary elections due later this year, which the law says must be supervised by the judiciary. Judges specifically called on the government to amend laws regulating the authority of judges and the exercise of political rights, joining a growing number of activists pushing President Hosni Mubarak for political reforms.
In their present form, these laws do not guarantee the convening of free and fair elections, the judges charged. But the judges complained that close relations between the executive and the judiciary undermine their independence and ability to properly monitor elections.
The judges also called for an amendment of the law so that the interior ministry surrenders certain controls over the electoral process. “There can be no bargain on the full supervision of elections by the judiciary,” said Ghiriany. “Any meaningful political reform must begin with the independence of the judges.”
Earlier this year, Mubarak asked lawmakers to amend the constitution to allow for the first multi-candidate presidential election in Egypt’s history, set to be held in September. Legislative polls are set to take place in October or November.
The judges said the amendments should be made by June when Egyptians will be asked in a popular referendum to approve Mubarak’s recommendation amendment and before parliament goes into recess. “Our demand for the amendment of the law regulating the authority of the judiciary is a matter that concerns the fate of all Egyptian people,” said Alexandria judge Mahmud Attiya Abushusha.
“There should be full judiciary supervision of the elections, beginning with the drawing up of lists of voters to the announcing of the results.”
Elections held prior to the 2000 parliamentary polls were for the most part organized by the interior ministry and opposition parties claimed they were marked by widespread fraud and irregularities.
