A judge has announced his withdrawal from supervising Sunday's run-off vote, in a move that constituted the first official verification of the existence of violations during Egypt's recently concluded parliamentary elections.
Vice President of the Court of Appeals Ayman al-Wardani resigned from his post as a member of the committee mandated with supervising elections in the city of Arish in the North Sinai Governorate.
Al-Wardani announced that after discovering a number of serious violations in Sunday’s elections, he had decided to waive all monetary rights related to the position. Al-Wardani claimed he had witnessed vote rigging at an Arish polling station that closed at 3 PM, thereby preventing voter access to ballot boxes.
He recounted voter testimony alleging that one of the candidates had entered the polling station before it closed and rigged the ballots.
Al-Wardani is the first judge to testify to the existence of election fraud during this year's parliamentary polling. He is also the first to formally withdraw from participation in the run-off elections.
