Opposition asserts 10 conditions for electoral participation

Egypt's opposition determined 10 conditions for electoral participation Cairo – Akram Ali Egypt's National Salvation Front [NSF] announced it will continue to oppose the country's newly ratified constitution on Friday, laying out its 10 conditions for participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections. This involvement is conditional on guarantees of “soundness, impartiality and fairness” throughout the electoral process.
The opposition group published its 10-point document to call for sweeping electoral reform ahead of the next elections. Reforms included legal provision for objective electoral observers, reviewing the powers of the Supreme Electoral Commission and setting quotas on the number of female candidates.
A statement issued by the opposition bloc read: "The signatories of this statement are determined to continue to resist this void constitution by all peaceful means. They also affirm their continued struggle against the Society of the Muslim Brotherhood, the ruling party and its allies, over the state’s legislative and executive establishment.”
The Front’s declaration also claimed the organisation was “determined not to give up” competing in upcoming legislative elections. “This is a mark of respect for the public’s right to have their say and declare their rejection of the return of tyranny,” it said.
The NSF has conditioned its electoral participation on the presence of "guarantees, means and regulations that guarantee soundness, impartiality and fairness so that the faking of the nation's will is not repeated after the referendum on the void constitution."
The statement listed 10 conditions for its participation. They are as follows:
1.      The reformation of electoral lists, which represent a third of the lower house of parliament, setting them at one list per governorate, with the exception of the five most populated governorates which are to be divided into two lists.
2.      Reducing the number of registered voters per ballot box to 500 with polls being open for one day only.
3.      Reviewing the powers of the Supreme Electoral Commission [SEC] to give it responsibility for the electoral process in its entirety, setting up offices and technical secretariats in each governorate.
4.      Reorganising the SECs complaints mechanisms to make the process clear and quick, and providing regulations for appeals on its decisions before Emergency Administrative Courts.
5.      Determining the paperwork required from candidates and the application procedures, including proof of worker and farmer status; restricting the categories' definitions to describe only those to whom the terms genuinely apply.
6.      Creating legal provisions ordering NGO's role and powers in election monitoring, their participation in committees created by the SEC and organising the awarding of permits to observers and representatives to enable them to monitor all polling stations.
7.      Regulating campaign funding, setting a limit to funding, determining monitoring mechanisms and creating provisions setting a penalty for breaches.
8.      Adding specific restrictions to laws banning the use of religious establishments in electoral campaigns, prohibiting incitement to sectarian hatred and providing for a deterrent penalty.
9.      Setting the presence of female candidates on electoral lists to one in every three consecutive candidates.
10.  Concerning individual elections, the seat is given to the candidate who wins the most votes in the first round even if he or she does not achieve a simple majority.
National Salvation Front signatories have welcomed dialogue “with any camp [as well as] all political forces" over the conditions published in the statement.