The First Statement
A large proportion of participants…Corresponding weak preparations… And abuses of the Brotherhood in the publicity and their impact on voters
In the framework of the activities of Monitoring the State of Democracy at the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, the association followed the General Acts of the referendum process, which started this morning Saturday, March 19, 2011, in 17 governorates of the republic and they (Cairo - Giza - October - Helwan - Qaliobya - Alexandria - ElGharbya - Bani Suef - ElSharqya- Aswan - Qena - Assiut - Suez - Dakahlia - Kafr El-Sheikh - Monofya - Port Said), at 40 general electoral committees for, with number of 500 observers, many of whom took their permits from the Supreme Judicial Committee supervising the referendum, some of them are monitoring under the mandates of Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement after the Supreme Judicial Committee rejected the extraction of more than 300 permits for the association's observers.
In the first test of freedom for the Egyptian people after the January 25th revolution masses of Egyptian citizens poured to the polling stations to vote, but they did not find enough preparations from behalf of the authorities responsible for the organization of these elections as many of the committees were very late to open their doors which were supposed to start by 8 in the morning, also they were marked at the early hours by the increase of the participation rate, , and many of our observers in a large number of committees did not find stamps on the ballot forms and guiding some of the Supervisors of the Committees the voters to vote yes, and the presence of propaganda before the commissions carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood to influence voters outside the committees and inside some committees, and our observers in the province of Assiut the night before the referendum found referendum forms lying next to the polling stations and they registered a record of the incident.
The observations of our observers as follows:
First: The logistical preparations of the referendum were not as should have been, also a large number of committees were delayed from the starting appointment at the eighth, as In the schools Ezzat Khair and Omar Saafan the late arrival of judges to almost 10 and third a hour resulting in a failure to open the committees, and in the committee of the School of Suzanne Mubarak at Helwan at Elmaasara Commission opened at nine o'clock, delayed some of the committees in the beginning such as a school in Nasr City has started at a quarter past eight and a lack of ink phosphorylation and at eight and a half In the school of Aziz AlMasry AlOmranya and In the school of Aziz Abaza at Nasr City also In the school of Prophet Moses in the eighth district. At Nasr City there is no Ink phosphorylation In the committee Hussain and Asif Abdul Moneim Riyadh Dokki forms were not sealed In the school of Egypt's new military Benin forms are not sealed, as well as in the National School Agouza In ElAwqaf School and Fawzy Ramah school at Damascus street, as well as in the Commission 5 at the automated bakery at ElMohandessien, which was repeated in the school of Imbaba Prep Boys In the school of Prince of Poets at Nasr City first district there were a delay for an hour, also at the school of Miet Aqaba at Nile Valley Agouza many forms were non-sealed. In the committee of serum and vaccine in Dokki the papers are not sealed and in the School Joseph Jadallah at ElHaram area, and the Commission of Irrigation departement Giza, as well as the School of Uthman ibn Affan, ElMatar Street at Imbaba as well as in the school of Om ElMo'mnien Secondary Girls at Tanta In also at ElMostaamara school at Elzawya district and in the Committee of ElAwqaf , Agouza. Also our observers monitored at a number of committees that the boxes were not closed, such as at the Commission of Abdullah El-Nadeem at the seventh district at Nasr City , besides the presence of wooden boxes at the School of Business Transactions at El-Falaky area. A large number of people registered records at the police stations to prove the existence of formswhich are not sealed in a lot of committees, while some sections of the police refrained from the registering of such records.
Secondly: With regard to the prevention of our observers: our observers were prevented from entry in the Shaimaa girls' School, where the army did not accept the officer entering the committees and asked them for statements from the armed forces, In the committee of Nabawya Mousa, the judicial committee supervising the elections prevented our observers, who are three observers.
Third: The abuses of the Muslim Brotherhood in the publicity and in influencing the voters: In Al-Zahra and Kerdasa schools the Muslim Brotherhood mobilized a large number of people who were carried in buses directing them to vote yes, until reaching the committees to vote in masses without the use of curtains and in the School of the Sars El-Layan Union the Brotherhood distribute propaganda papers before the committee to vote yes, and our observers observed the presence of posters for propaganda to yes to the referendum within the Commissionof the Electoral school Abdel-Moneim Riad ElOmranya district in the name of the Muslim Brotherhood, our observers monitored at ElSharqya governorate of Minya El- Qamh center at the junior high school boys from a group of Brotherhood members are inviting voters, especially the elderly and illiterate people to vote yes.
Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Operating room Saturday, January 19, 2011
11.00 am
