[liberationtech] Fwd: Ushahid website report on the 1st phase of the Egyptian parliamentary Election 2011

[Patrick Meier (Ushahidi)]

FYI


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kamal Sedra | ICT4Peace <kamalsedra at ict4peace.org>
Date: Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 4:18 AM
Subject: Ushahid website report on the 1st phase of the Egyptian
parliamentary Election 2011
To: CrisisMappers <crisismappers at googlegroups.com>


 <http://www.u-shahid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/u-shahid-copy1.jpg>
 <http://www.u-shahid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/u-shahid-copy.jpg>

*Ushahid website report on the first phase of the Egyptian parliamentary
Election 2011*

Ushahid (www.u-shahid.org) is an online platform for recording reports from
the public about the election process on a real-time map, through SMS,
email and Twitter.

The site received 594 reports until 10 o’clock on the evening of Tuesday,
November 29, 2011, which is the second day of the first phase of the
Egyptian Parliamentary Elections of 2011. These reports constituted 164
images and 36 video clips. 497 reports were verified while the remaining 97
reports were not verified. On the runoff round the platform received 156
reports since the end of the first round of the first phase till the end of
the second voting day in the runoff elections of this phase. These reports
constituted 46 images and 18 video clips. 137 reports were verified while
the remaining 19 reports were not verified.
 [image: Figure: Percentage of prominent categories of reports received by
the platform on the first election
phase]<http://www.u-shahid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Untitled1.png>

Figure: Percentage of prominent categories of reports received by the
platform on the first election phase

There were a number of violations reported on electoral campaigns, most
notably those committed by the Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi
party “Al Nour”. These violations included the distribution of promotional
flyers directly in front of poll stations, and in some cases this violation
amounted to the establishment of what has been described by the voters as
headquarters for El Nour party in front of some poll stations in
Alexandria. These violations have led that some observers filed complaints
against El Nour party and Freedom and Justice party in order to stop the
propaganda campaign set in front of the poll stations. In Assiut anonymous
publication distributed to incite against the electoral list of “Al kotla
Al Masreyah” – “The Egyptian Bloc” claiming that it is supported by the
Church according to the publication.

In Cairo, it was reported that there was campaigning tent that was set up
of the Freedom and Justice Party in front of a poll station in the area of
Matareyah (Cairo). Also reports indicated that many cars with loudspeakers
roamed the streets in front of poll station calling for the election of the
Freedom and Justice in the governorates of Cairo, Damietta and Port Said.
In Port Said, it has been recorded that there were promotional flyers
distributed inside the poll stations in favour of El Wafd and El Nour
parties at Al-Zahra poll station. Also, Al Masreyeen Al Ahrar, distributed
campaigning flyers infront of polling stations; the same was observed for
Al Kotla Al Masreyeh in front of poll stations in Shubra (Cairo).

There were violations related to the independent candidates such as the
intensive propaganda for the candidate Tarek Talaat Mustafa in front of
doors of polling stations in Alexandria as well as using of loudspeakers in
the streets of Damietta to urge voters to elect Waffa EL Mandouby an
independent workers candidate. In Port Said and poll station within the
Port Fouad Youth Center, reports indicated the continuation of the election
propaganda for Freedom and Justice party and independent candidates Amr Ida
and George Ishac.

Regarding the polling stations, the main complaint was the delay in opening
of several ones in Cairo and Alexandria, Assiut and Port Said.  In Port
Said, IbnKhaldoun School opened its doors after six hours of the
commencement of voting. In Cairo, some did not open polling stations in
Helwan and Mataryah until ten hours after the voting start. In Assiut
governorate was observed the absence of the voters’ lists in some stations
as well as the absence of the official stamps on the voting papers in many
of the polls stations.

In the Zaytoon elementary school in Cairo there were reports on the absence
of election ink and incidents of voting without proof of ID cards in the
Matareyah and Ain Shams.  In Cairo was delayed in opening several polling
stationsdue to the lack of voting forms. In Hosni Mubarak girls’ school in
Northern Cairo, the people broke into poll stationdue to protest the
distribution of promotional material of Freedom and Justice party inside
the poll stations and influencing voters which delaying the voting process
for two hours. There was one report on a single incident of early closure
of the poll station of the School of Freire de LaSalle in Cairo.

In the north of Cairo, the candidates of the “Al kotla LA Amsreyah”, (the
Egyptian Bloc) informed the Judicial Commissionthat there was fraud that
was committed against them against them where they reported that the heads
of the electoral committees allowed non-voters into the polling
stationsattempting to influence voters to cast their votes for particular
candidates, while others were prevented from entering the poll stations.

In the school AL Saydeh Khadija in Cairo, It was reported that ballot boxes
were opened and votes in favour of “The Egyptian Bloc” was replaced by
votes in Favour of The Freedom and Justice Party in the Sub-Committee
number 1034/1033. There was another form of violation using what is known
as rotating ballot to rig voting in favour of El Nourparty and the
individual candidate Tarek Talaat Mustafa, in the School of Hoda Shaarawi
in Laurent district, and Tariq Ibn Ziad School in Mostafa Kamel district in
Alexandria. Also, the representatives of Al Nour party at the School of
Agriculture in Alexandria (Committee No. 851) by marking the ballots by
himself in favour of Al Nour Party.

It was also observed in many cases that the Freedom and Justice party
transferred the voters in private buses to the polling stations in Cairo
and Alexandria, Damietta; the same practice was followed by AL Nour party
in Alexandria and Damietta.

In Alexandria, bribes by electoral supporters of Tarek Talaat Mustafa in
front of AL Raml School were reported. Similarly, supporters of independent
candidate Heshmat Ibouhager distributed electoral bribes worth of 50 pounds
to the voters at the district of Helwan and Maadi, Cairo. Others incidents
of bribery were reported such as that of Al Nour party candidate Mohamed
Abujabal who collect ID cards for distributing Cooking gas cylinders, as
well as the case of the candidate Rafiq Abdul Rahman Saif in Heliopolis,
who distributed meals to the voters in the Tabary Preparatory School, in
Cairo.

In general, the second day of voting there was a lack of attention to using
election ink and its total absence in some polling stations in Port Said
and Cairo. It was also reported that there were stamped ballots outside the
stations before election day in the province of the Red Sea.

The elections have witnessed limited cases of violence such as that in
schools of Irfan and Um AL Masreyeen in Alexandria after thugs have
attacked on voters there. In addition, there were clashes between the
supporters of EL Nour Party and AL Kotla Al Masreyah in SidiBishr in
Alexandria. Also reported that The supporters of Al Nour party assaulted
four of the activists who were monitoring the elections in Alexandria.
Another violent incident was reported where Mohamed Farouk Abu Zeid, the
candidate on the list of Egypt’s National Party, has stormed the school
compound at Anfoushy district held up his pistol within the poll station,
which caused a state of chaos among voters within the voting compound.

On a more positive note, there was a high turnout of voters and overall
content with the cooperation of soldiers of the armed forces that helped
secure the voters and the polling stations. In Alexandria, voters were keen
to participate in the first Election Day despite the bad weather and heavy
rains.

For the runoff round, like the first round, most violations that were
monitored were the intense propaganda of the candidates of both justice and
freedom party and El-Nour party in front of polling places. Have also been
monitored the leaflets distributed by supporters of El-Nour Party candidate
in Alexandria Abdel Moneim Shahat, accusing his rival candidate of freedom
and justice party that he is supported by the church. Also, has been
monitored the presence of the independent candidate Tarek Talaat Mustafa’s
representatives inside the polling stations dressing propaganda materials
for him, for the same candidate as well has been reported many cases of
collecting supporters for group voting, and giving electoral bribes to vote.

As for the delay in opening the voting stations that was widespread in the
first round, it has been monitored only in the Red Sea governorate to the
absence of representatives of candidates, according to the report.

With regard to the voting process it has been monitored the distribution of
meals to the voters and candidates’ representatives at the Alpharma primary
school in Port Said. In Port Said also has been recorded the violation of
not checking the identity of veiled women in some stations and confirmation
to verify the identity of them in other places in Port Said and
Damietta. Has also been recorded the absence of the judges at the School of
Saad Zaghloul in Port Said and Akkad School in Matareyah, Cairo.

Regarding cases of violence recorded the expelling of the representatives
of candidates for the freedom and justice party by the representative of
El-Nour Party in Damietta. Among the most prominent incidents of violence
that has been recorded was the murder of one of the Egyptian Liberal Party
supporters at Menoufia during a clash occurred between supporters of the
Centre Party and Liberal Party supporters.

Among the positive things that have been monitored was the systemic
presence of a number of leaders of the armed forces and military patrols at
different voting places to make sure the election process is going well.
Also, the members of the armed forces in some of the voting places
prevented the election campaigns of El-Nour party in front of the voting
stations.

For more information refer to:

http://www.u-shahid.com/egyelection/main (Arabic)

Kamal Sedra
Senior Technical Advisor
ICT4Peace Foundation


Founder
Development & Institutionalization Support Center DISC
Official Ushahidi Partner 2011
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