Scores of Egyptian expatriates residing in the US staged a protest on Saturday in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington, demanding international observation in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for 28 November.
Al-Masry Al-Youm obtained a copy of the protesters’ statement on Sunday, in which 40 demonstrators denounced the total absence of international oversight. They also slammed the Egyptian government for not granting local monitors licenses.
Demonstrators chanted both nationalist songs and anti-regime slogans.
“Change is Egypt’s only way out from autocracy and corruption," said one individual taking part in the protest, who is also a member at the National Association for Change. “The people of Egypt have either to govern themselves or to be governed by a someone who loves his country and acts only for its interests."
The protest statement said the refusal to grant international supervision bodes poorly for the poll's transparency.
“With the Egyptian government declining to provide assurances for free and fair elections, analysts predict forgery to continue throughout the next polls, as typical of the Shura Council elections few months ago," the statement reads. “The government refuses international observation while reiterating the transparency of the upcoming elections, but its allegations are at odds with reports by local and international NGOs.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
