egypt-final-presidential-elections-2012

The Carter Center
Presidential Election in Egypt
Maurice Chammah
indirectly; the use of state-owned, public sector, or
public business sector facilities or transportation; the
use of public utilities, places of worship, or educational
facilities (public or private); and the spending
of any public monies for electoral propaganda.
Polling station security directs a queue of voters at a women’s polling station.
Article 3 of PEC Decision No. 10 108 expands on the
provisions of Article 21 of the Presidential Election
Law by prohibiting campaigns from, among other
things, “prejudicing the values and customs of
Egyptian society.”
Security Environment During the
First-Round Campaign Period
One of the major events that raised security concerns
during the presidential election process was the
disqualification of Salafist presidential hopeful Hazem
Salah Abu Ismail on April 17, 2012, because his
mother had acquired U.S. citizenship. As a result of
his disqualification, a large number of Abu Ismail
supporters protested and started a sit-in in front of
the PEC headquarters, claiming that the PEC was
not impartial and had disqualified Abu Ismail for
political, rather than legal, reasons. A few days later,
they moved the sit-in to Tahrir Square and then to
37
Abbasseya Square, close to the Ministry of Defense
(MoD), accusing the SCAF of interfering in the
electoral process and demanding the SCAF to step
down immediately. This protest was attacked by
people in civilian clothes who claimed they were
residents of Abbasseya neighborhood.
Protesters claimed that the
assailants were affiliated with the
armed forces. Sharply conflicting
reports placed the number of
people killed during these protests
between one and 10, with scores
of injuries. This tense period cast
a heavy shadow over the electoral
environment.
Prior to Abu Ismail’s disqualification,
on Feb. 24, 2012, presidential
candidate Abdel Moneim
Aboul Fatouh was car-jacked
and injured on the ring-road
on his way back from one of
his campaign events. The MoI
announced that the attack was
not political and did not target Aboul Fatouh but that
it was, rather, a random criminal act. 109
A number of campaign events for some of the
candidates were attacked by angry citizens. For
example, Amr Moussa’s campaign events were
attacked in different governorates. Moussa accused
the April 6th Movement of being involved in these
attacks; however, they officially denied involvement.
In the final stages of the campaign period for the
first round, in Dakahliya governorate, minor clashes
108 This decision also makes detailed provision for the allocation of
air time to each candidate via state-owned media outlets for the first
and second round campaigns and establishes a dedicated committee
to monitor, follow up, and correct media and advertising campaigns
of candidates. Moreover, the decision elaborates on Article 23 of the
Presidential Election Law to require any opinion poll published by a
media outlet to provide explicit details about the poll, including the
source of funding, methodology, and the questions used; and that opinion
polls cannot be published in the two days preceding voting.
109 On Feb. 28, Al-Ahram newspaper reported that 12 individuals,
including one of the five attackers, were arrested. All reportedly had prior
criminal records, including car-jacking. Five cars were seized, including
the car stolen from Aboul Fatouh. They all were criminally charged with
committing acts of thuggery.