Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                NGO Dispute Means Fewer Monitors for Egypt Vote

   by Scott Stearns

   ''STATE DEPARTMENT - Egyptians go to the polls this week to choose
   their first democratically-elected president. A continuing legal
   dispute over the role of U.S. civil society groups means there will be
   fewer monitors to observe that vote.
   Egypt's historic presidential campaign comes to a close with the first
   round of voting to choose a new civilian leader.
   The Elections Commission says there will be monitors from the Arab
   League, the African Union, and the European Commission. But there will
   be far fewer Americans observing this vote because of the pending
   prosecution of members of three U.S. non-governmental organizations
   charged with improperly using funds and failing to register with
   authorities.
   "Because of the whole NGO scandal and sort of the attack on foreign
   funding, this is going to be at a much smaller scale than it was for
   the parliamentary elections and than it should be," said Michele Dunne,
   with Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Washington-based
   Atlantic Council. "There will be some monitoring going on. It'll be
   small scale. And at the same time, the elections themselves will be
   much larger scale."
   ''Dunne says the size of this vote could overwhelm monitors. "The
   presidential election is even clearer and more exciting than the
   parliamentary elections were. So potentially, there are 52 million
   eligible voters, we could see 30 million or something like that turning
   out," she explained.
   Dunne says she is also concerned about potential challenges to the
   outcome, as there is no clear procedure for appealing Elections
   Commission rulings.
   Elections Commission Secretary General Hatem Begato says the integrity
   of the process is beyond question. "It is not in the interest of
   anybody to rig these elections," he said. "The higher presidential
   elections commission is made up of judges. These judges did not
   volunteer to monitor the elections. They were invited to, and they
   accepted the responsibility with pride."
   State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland says the Obama
   administration remains hopeful that this vote will be a good one. "I
   think we are continuing to call on the election - electoral commission
   to do its job and meet the expectations of the Egyptian people that
   this will be free, it'll be fair, it'll be transparent," she stated.
   "That there will be appropriate recourse if there are concerns and that
   that'll be a transparent process as well."
   Observers from the U.S.-based Carter Center are permitted to monitor
   this election. But they say they may not be able to determine whether
   the vote is free and fair because of electoral commission restrictions
   on their movements.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/ngo-dispute-means-fewer-monitors-for-
   egypt-vote/897064.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ngo-dispute-means-fewer-monitors-for-egypt-vote/897064.html