The Presidential Elections Commission will convene on Saturday to mull the electoral symbols given to the thirteen presidential hopefuls.
The commission announced it would not work on Wednesday and Thursday after issuing a final decision on the appeals submitted by ten disqualified presidential hopefuls on Tuesday.
Judicial sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Thursday that the commission will select the electoral symbols. Parties’ candidates will likely be assigned the same symbols their parties used during the parliamentary elections, while independent candidates will choose symbols based on the order in which they submitted their papers.
The commission decided that the balloting papers will be stamped with serial numbers to avoid any attempts at fraud, the sources added.
Once polling stations are decided, there will be tests to link them to the commission via electronic networks so results would be reported immediately, the sources said.
According to the sources, the commission is considering changing the way voters sign in on voters’ lists. The proposal would have voters write down the last three numbers of their ID number next to their name, to guarantee voters do not cast ballots for others.
The sources also expected the number of judges supervising the presidential election to exceed those who supervised the parliamentary elections. They said the number may exceed 13,000 judges, as election will take place in one stage.
This article is an edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
