EU to monitor elections after “overcoming challenges”

The European Union has overcome "administrative challenges" and will observe the Egyptian presidential elections "as widely as possible throughout the country," Mario David, member of the European Parliament and the the European Observation Mission's (EOM) chief observer, said in a press conference Monday.

In a statement released on Saturday, the EU said that the Egyptian authorities' refusal to allow telecommunications equipment and medical kits into the country meant that it was "too late for the long-term observers to conduct a meaningful observation" of the elections, which are scheduled to be held on May 26 and 27.

A core team of 10 analysts arrived in Egypt as a part of the EOM on April 18 pursuant to an invitation by Egyptian authorities. A second group of 30 observers arrived on April 25.

David said that the second group was not deployed throughout the country as planned because of "administrative challenges," but said that "thanks to joint efforts, and the constructive engagement of the Egyptian authorities, the EOM is able to observe as widely as possible throughout Egypt."

The EOM will nonetheless "need to adjust our mission in order to operate in line with our standard observations rules. These rules include a number of requirements which have to be met to enable our observers to perform their duties," David said.

The Chief Observer did not expand on how the mission will be adjusted but said that he does not believe that the fact that EOM members have only been able to deploy in the past week jeopardizes the EOM.

David said that the EOM has met with both presidential candidates Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabbahi and discussed challenges facing the EOM.

"Both of them promised to ask the authorities to speed up the process. I don't think that was necessary because we have enjoyed cooperation from the authorities, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," David said.

David emphasized that the equipment which the Egyptian authorities refused to let into the country was "standard equipment that has been used in over 100 missions" and which "poses no threat to Egyptian sovereignty. It is used for usual communication between people."

Asked for his opinion about why the equipment had not been allowed in, David responded, "I'm sure there was no intention from the Egyptian authorities to hinder our work. There was some paperwork and some bureaucratic steps we had to go through. I'm pleased that that problem has been solved and we can deploy our staff throughout the country."

The Memoranda of Understanding signed between the EU and Egypt guarantees EOM members access to polling stations and allows it to observe the election campaign period, the performance of the election administration and the overall environment of the elections, including respect for fundamental freedoms, as well as civil and political rights. It also assesses the performance of the media, voting, counting and tabulation of results, in addition to the handling of complaints.

David emphasized that the EOM does not "legitimate an electoral process, nor does it validate any election results."

The Chief Observer also said that the EOM has already begun its work, and yesterday went to the headquarters of the Supreme Council for Elections, where it observed voting by Egyptian expatriates via a live stream from 300 polling stations abroad.

The EOM plans to issue its report on the elections on May 29.