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US Disappointed by Reports of Egypt Poll Irregularities

   VOA News 30 November 2010
   Protesters   make  a  small  demonstration  of  about  100  opposition
   activists,  two holding a banner showing a photo of Egyptian President
   Hosni  Mubarak,  right,  and  his son Gamal Mubarak, left, in downtown
   Cairo, Egypt, 29 Nov 2010

Photo: AP

   Protesters   make  a  small  demonstration  of  about  100  opposition
   activists,  two holding a banner showing a photo of Egyptian President
   Hosni  Mubarak,  right,  and  his son Gamal Mubarak, left, in downtown
   Cairo, Egypt, 29 Nov 2010

   The  United States says it is concerned and disappointed by reports of
   interference,    intimidation    other   irregularities   in   Egypt's
   parliamentary elections.
   U.S.  State  Department  spokesman  P.J.  Crowley said late Monday the
   problems call into question the "fairness and transparency" of Egypt's
   election, which pitted the banned Muslim Brotherhood against President
   Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.
   Protesters clashed with police across Egypt Monday after the country's
   main opposition party said a "rigged" election had virtually wiped out
   its  presence  in  parliament.   Three people were reported killed in
   poll-related violence.
   In  the city of Assiut, south of the capital, Cairo, police fired tear
   gas  at  hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters marching to protest
   the results of Sunday's poll.
   Voters,   opposition   campaigners   and  a  coalition  of  local  and
   international  rights  groups reported systematic rigging, bribery and
   other   election-day  infringements  after  the  government  prevented
   monitoring.
   Official results are expected Tuesday.
   The Muslim Brotherhood said Monday none of its candidates won seats in
   the  election's  first  round  and  only a few secured enough votes to
   participate in a December 5 runoff.
   While  the  Muslim Brotherhood is illegal in Egypt, its candidates are
   tacitly  allowed  to  run  as  independents.  In  2005,  the party won
   one-fifth of the parliamentary seats.
   Egypt's  High Elections Commission, a body of judges and parliamentary
   nominees, said complaints of voting irregularities were being examined
   but were not serious enough to question the vote's legitimacy.
   Early  estimates  show another low turnout of the country's 41 million
   registered  voters. Official estimates place Sunday's election turnout
   at  about  25  percent,  similar  to  the  2005 election turnout of 22
   percent.   Rights  groups,  however,  say  voter  turnout in Sunday's
   election totaled about 12 percent.
   The  run-up  to  the vote was also dogged by charges of harassment and
   intimidation. Several hundred Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested
   in the latest in a series of crackdowns on the group.
   Although  the  government promised a free and fair election, it barred
   international   monitors,   calling   them   an  infringement  of  its
   sovereignty.
   Mr.  Mubarak's  National  Democratic  Party  is  poised to win a solid
   majority  of the 508 elected seats. Ten additional seats are appointed
   by the president.
   Egypt  is  scheduled  to  hold  a presidential election next year. Mr.
   Mubarak,  who  is  82  and has been president since 1981, has not said
   whether he will run for re-election.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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