Carter: SCAF making 'undemocratic' turn

A US election monitoring group on Tuesday said it was unable to say if Egypt’s presidential election was free and fair as it had not been given sufficient access, accusing the military leadership of hampering a transition to democracy. Beyond the election itself, the group - the Carter Center - said a court’s decision to dissolve the Islamist-dominated parliament and a decree from the ruling military council limiting the future president’s powers increased the risk that Egypt was not becoming the democracy that many had hoped for. The Carter Center issued preliminary findings on Wednesday for the second round of the presidential elections. "I am deeply troubled by the undemocratic turn that Egypt's transition has taken. The dissolution of the democratically-elected parliament and the return of elements of martial law generated uncertainty about the constitutional process before the election," said former US President Jimmy Carter, who founded the eponymous organisation. "The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' new Constitutional Declaration, in which they carve out special privileges for the military and inject themselves into the constitution drafting process, violates their prior commitment to the Egyptian people to make a full transfer of power to an elected civilian government. A constitution is a permanent foundation for the nation, and must be fully inclusive and legitimate.  An unelected military body should not interfere in the constitution drafting process." "Ultimately, a truly democratic transition requires not just elections, but the full transfer of power to those elected civilian institutions, and the drafting of a constitution by an inclusive and legitimate Constituent Assembly. Given the dissolution of parliament, the reinstatement of certain military powers of arrest and detention, and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' newest Constitutional Declaration, among other issues, it is now unclear whether a truly democratic transition remains underway in Egypt." "On election day, Egyptians went to the polls with only a vague, interim constitution and no political consensus on the next steps of drafting a new one, forcing voters to choose a presidential candidate without clarity on the precise role and responsibilities of the new president. While this was also the case during the first round of voting, the dissolution of parliament only strengthened the sense of uncertainty surrounding the nature and course of the constitution drafting process and ergo the democratic transition." On the electoral process itself, the statement said: " The Carter Center cannot provide a comprehensive assessment of the integrity of the elections due to the limited nature of the mission. While Carter Center witnesses found that most aspects of the June 16-17 voting and counting process were free from major and systematic flaws that unfairly advantaged either candidate, the uncertain political climate in which these elections took place renders the meaning of these elections unclear.  With this in mind, The Carter Center respectfully offers the Egyptian people the preliminary observations on the second round of the presidential election summarized below. The election process is ongoing and official results are yet to be announced."