Secretary General of the Presidential Elections Commission Hatem Bagato has said that the commission asked organizations from 40 countries to monitor the presidential poll in Egypt, as the Egyptian elections commission has nothing to hide, as he put it.
“We are meeting on Wednesday to receive applications from such organizations,” Bagato told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Tuesday.
Bagato explained that permits would be granted to the foreign organizations no later than 7 May, provided that they submit a summary of their activities, a list of the countries in which they had monitored elections in the past three years, and the names, pictures and nationalities of their staff.
“We found interest on the part of civil society organizations,” he said.
As of Monday, 30 local organizations had applied to monitor the poll.
Sources within the commission said the military council confirmed that it would secure the election in full, and denied it would be postponed due to the controversy over the Constituent Assembly.
Bagato announced last month that Egyptian civil society organizations registered by the Social Solidarity Ministry would be able to monitor the upcoming presidential election.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
