CAIRO, 6 August 2005 — The Election Commission rejected yesterday most of the presidential registrations received from independent candidates, saying many of the hopefuls failed to win the approval of at least 250 elected members of Parliament and Municipal Councils.
Around a hundred people withdrew registration forms over the past week while only 30 candidates from 16 parties turned in acceptable applications, the commission said. Nine independents, among them four women, did not get the required 250 signatures of elected national or local officials, it said. Applicants have until tomorrow to object in case they were rejected and the commission will publish the final list of candidates on Aug. 13, less than a month before the country’s key vote on Sept. 7.
“We have accepted the registrations of 30 members of political parties, but most of the applications from independent candidates were rejected because they failed to fulfill all the requirements,” said Osama Atwaiya, a spokesman for Egypt’s Election Commission.
“We were hoping that the commission will realize that it is illogical to ask independent candidates to get the approval of 250 elected members of Parliament and Municipal Councils,” said Mamdouh Ismail, lawyer of Abboud Al Zomor. “I will take the matter to court and will not give up that easily,” he told Arab News.
The government-owned daily Akhbar Al-Youm said meanwhile it would launch Egypt’s first polling institute whose independence will be guaranteed by its multipartisan board.
A copy of the paper’s edition to be published today was faxed to AFP with the institution’s first poll question: “Do you think that Egypt’s presidential elections will be free and fair?” which readers are supposed to answer by e-mail, phone or fax. Results are expected to be published in a week’s time.
— Additional input from AFP
