Supreme Council of the Armed Forces member General Mohamed al-Assar said that the armed forces will secure the presidential elections process with more than 150,000 officers and soldiers. He added that 11,000 vehicles, including planes, have been allocated for transporting troops, evacuations and medical emergencies. He also said that the armed forces will transport 480 judges to distant polling stations.
“We were committed during the transitional period to the demands of the 25 January revolution and to holding a presidential election so that power can be transferred to a president elected by free and fair elections,” Assar said in a briefing on Tuesday.
Assar called on the Egyptian people to vote in the elections, reiterating his confidence “in the great Egyptian people, whose revolution astounded the world and who will not hesitate to do their duty.”
Assar said that there are more than 50 million Egyptians registered for the election, and he hopes they will all cast their vote because this is a chance to achieve the demands of the revolution.
Assar added that the military will supervise the elections with complete transparency, and that the results must represent the will of the Egyptian people. He reiterated that the armed forces are impartial toward all candidates and added that the whole world will admire the election’s fairness.
Assar said that armed forces has detailed security plans for the voting process and will provide protection for the 13,000 polling stations nationwide.
The armed forces have tightened measures to secure polling stations in coordination with different security bodies throughout various governorates. The armed forces have also organized patrols for organizing the electoral process, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
In Ismailia, security forces are securing highways, streets and squares as well as 180 polling stations. Military units were deployed along the Suez Canal, where security measures have been tightened.
The governor of Kafr al-Sheikh said that only the judges are in charge of the presidential election, while the armed forces and police are only securing the process.
Minya’s head of security said that preparations have been finished in coordination with the armed forces. 3,500 police officers have been deployed in the governorate.
In Sharqiya, the head of the primary court and supervisor of the elections, Mohamed Amer, said that 80 percent of the judges monitoring the elections are from inside the governorate.
In Port Said, military patrols were deployed to secure vital locations like the customs department, the Suez Canal Authority, the ferries facility and the customs gates at Port Said port.
A military source warned that the military will respond forcefully to any attempts to foment unrest during the electoral process.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
