egypt-final-presidential-elections-2012

The Carter Center
Conclusions and Recommendations
The Carter Center recognizes that the 2012
presidential election was just one part of
Egypt’s ongoing political transition. It is in
this light that the Center respectfully offers the following
recommendations.
To the Government of Egypt
1. Ensure the protection of fundamental rights
and freedoms.
The Carter Center urges Egyptian lawmakers
to seize the opportunities provided by Egypt’s
continuing transition to ensure the full protection
of fundamental rights and freedoms. The
transition to date has not adequately ensured
the protection and fulfillment of human rights.
For example, Egypt’s longstanding and stifling
Emergency Law remained in effect through the
first round of the presidential election, although
it has since been allowed to expire. The Carter
Center urges all Egyptian leaders, lawmakers, and
relevant authorities to work to ensure that any
new electoral legislation uphold Egypt’s regional
and international commitments to promote and
protect fundamental human and political rights.
This includes the new constitution of Egypt,
which will form the basis of the electoral legal
framework for future elections.
2. Create a permanent, professional, and
independent election management body.
The Carter Center recommends that the future
constitution explicitly provide for an independent
electoral management body that is permanent,
professional, impartial, accountable, and that
acts with transparency, consistent with Egypt’s
international commitments. This body should
be mandated to issue and enforce regulations
over all elections and referenda and maintain a
continuous operational presence in all of Egypt’s
27 governorates including a permanent headquarters
in Cairo.
In addition, the Center encourages lawmakers
to reconsider whether sitting senior judges should
serve as ex officio members of the EMB and
likewise whether judges and judicial personnel
should continue to act as the exclusive overseers
of the electoral process at all levels of the electoral
process, down to the polling-station level.
While Egypt’s judiciary appears to enjoy broad
trust among the electorate, having judges serve
as polling station supervisors while also fulfilling
their regular judicial duties places an unreasonable
burden on individual judges and the judicial
system. This also would address concerns of potential
conflict of interest that exist for judges adjudicating
election-related cases, given that elections
are exclusively administered at the national,
governorate, and subcommittee level by fellow
judges. In accordance with internationally recognized
standards regarding judicial independence
and ethics, the EMB and the judiciary should take
transparent steps to ensure that those adjudicating
election-related cases have no conflicts of interest,
or the appearance of a conflict of interest, with
judges supervising the electoral process who might
be associated with the case at issue. The Carter
Center suggests that decision-makers appoint
qualified individuals, including those who are
not active judges, to serve as electoral administrators
and EMB leaders, in order to minimize
the risks of judicial conflict of interest and to
develop a professional cadre of full-time election
administrators.
3. Establish an appellate process for the review of
EMB decisions.
Under current Egyptian law, the Presidential
Election Commission is the final authority on
any election-related decision that it renders,
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