In the track of Muslim Brotherhood candidates in Giza

By Pakinam Amer Jun 11, 2007, 23:36 GMT

Giza, Egypt - On Monday, an Egyptian male voter from Manshiyet al-Qanater in Giza spent most of the day pleading with stiff-mannered security officers sealing off polling stations to let him in to cast his vote for mid-term Shura Council, the upper consultative house of parliament.

On Monday afternoon, many voters interviewed by Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa in Giza had the same complaint: polling stations were illegally closed.

Heavily armed security officers in black uniforms stopped the man at every gate of the many buildings used by local authorities as makeshift polling stations, each referring him to a different place.

They did not give him any particular reason, he said, just murmured 'these are orders.'

At the end of the hectic journey on the outskirts of Giza, the man in his forties turned to reporters and said, 'It's all because these stations have Muslim Brotherhood candidates.' He refused to disclose his name for fear of police harassment.

The Shura Council is the upper house of Egypt's parliament and its duties are limited to ratifying constitutional amendments, treaties and bill proposals.

The legally banned Brotherhood group is running candidates as independents in two of Giza's three constituencies.

In these two constituencies, which comprise many rural hamlets and villages on the outskirts of Greater Cairo, communities are closely knit, with each group of villages supporting one particular candidate - usually a relative, neighbour or old friend.

Just as voters went round attempting to cast their ballots, so did Sayed Saleh, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate.

He passed heavily fortified ballot stations where truckloads of riot police stood on-call. As police officers suspiciously eyed every passersby, Saleh recounted how he was 'harassed and targeted' by the national security.

Saleh told dpa that his delegates had been shadowed by security forces for many weeks.

He said he woke up in the morning to find his car with two flat tyres and security forces parked outside his house. When he asked why the tyres were flat, they said 'it was a mistake that only two tyres had the air let out of them.'

A total of 160 supporters of Saleh have been arrested during the past three weeks for allegedly using religious slogans.

But Saleh denies using such slogans, showing reporters his campaign posters which read 'Reform is the solution,' a phrase that plays on the original slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood 'Islam is the solution.'

'It is ridiculous the (National Democratic Party) prohibits the Brothers from using religious slogans, when the NDP candidate in this constituency is using Koran verses for his propaganda,' Saleh said.

All around the nearby villages of Oseem, Manshiet al-Qanater and Qerdaset al-Mansouriya minivans with loud speakers could be seen touring streets with campaigners from the ruling NDP singing praises of their candidate.

Saleh's banners were torn down, and NDP candidates lodged official complaints with the local authorities claiming he used religious slogans.

'The Higher Commissioner for Elections had a thick folder full of numerous complaints filed by rival NDP candidates,' he said.

Mariam al-Sayed, Saleh's daughter, said their house was under surveillance for several days. Her father was reportedly followed everywhere and people in the village took to jokingly calling him 'the national security man.'

'We could see the national security spies sitting in the shop facing our house, eyeing everyone coming in or out of our house,' his wife, Iman Ismail, said.

Ihab Abul-Fotouh, a student supporter of Saleh, said he and his brother were rounded-up from their home, their computer was confiscated, and they were detained for three days.

'We were charged with posting flyers carrying religious slogans. We had no flyers. We were arrested from our own homes,' Abul-Fotouh said.

Saleh's experience is not unique. Several kilometres away in Abu al-Noumros, a rural area in Giza's third constituency, another Brotherhood-affiliated candidate, Mohammed Fiki, complained that NDP supporters rigged the vote.

'They had the audacity of rigging the balloting register registering ineligible voters and making them vote,' Fiki alleged. 'I personally confiscated 100 pages of rigged lists filled out by the station's employees.'

'When my supporters reached the poling station, police sent them back, telling them that the elections were cancelled,' he added.

But cordoning people off was not the only problem that voters faced - Muslim Brotherhood or not. Fawziya Mohammed, a female registered voter, said many voters could not find their names on the register, and she saw some people being sent away.

Outside a polling station in the village of Bortos, some people were allowed to vote using their national identification cards or their NDP membership cards. The same people were reportedly allowed to vote more than once.

'I voted several times today. Everyone did,' said Mohammed, a young man in his early twenties standing outside a polling station.

Mohammed, who did not disclose his last name, does not own a voting card.

'Rigging is taking place in all the stations,' said Mohammed Abdel-Hakim, a campaigner for independent candidate Abdel-Hakim al- Nimr.

Another campaigner, Mohammed al-Nimr, claimed NDP candidates were buying votes.

'What we are witnessing today is the result of a security regime using its heavy stick everywhere,' said Fiki, who seemed to have little hope that Muslim Brotherhood candidates will make any significant gains.

Preliminary results of the first round of the elections are expected late Tuesday. A runoff round will be held on June 18, and arguably only then will the brotherhood be able to draw lessons from this experiment in political participation.