US embassy cable - 05CAIRO6912

UNCLAS CAIRO 006912 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC STAFF FOR POUNDS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, EG, Elections 
SUBJECT: EGYPT'S SEPTEMBER 7 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: HOW IT 
WILL WORK 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  The September 7 presidential election will 
be the Egyptian people's first opportunity to select a 
president in a competitive process.  Although the GOE claims 
31 million citizens are eligible to vote, participation will 
be much lower, and actual turnout rates could become a source 
of dispute between the GOE and domestic monitors.  The GOE 
plans to field 13,000 judges and judicial officials to act in 
a supervisory capacity at more than 10,000 polling stations. 
 The Embassy is deploying officers for informal observation 
missions in Cairo and in eight provinces across the country. 
The Embassy is also in close touch with international 
assessment teams and domestic monitors.  Counting will not 
begin until polls close at 10 PM.  Official results and other 
statistics are not expected before late Thursday at the 
earliest.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU) According to the GOE, 31 million Egyptians are 
eligible to participate in the September 7 poll, Egypt's 
first direct and competitive presidential election.  However, 
most observers predict a low turnout due both to apathy and 
to cumbersome voter registration procedures.  (Note: Voter 
registration closed in January, one month before President 
Mubarak announced his initiative to establish a competitive 
presidential election system.  End note.)  Official 
statistics on turnout will be closely (and skeptically) 
scrutinized by observers.  Egyptian civil society activists, 
and the Egyptian Judges' club, accused the GOE of grossly 
exaggerating turnout in the May 25 referendum. 
 
3. (SBU) Voting will take place at 10,129 polling stations 
scattered across the country.  In addition to election staff, 
the GOE says it will deploy 13,000 judges and judicial 
officials to act as electoral supervisors. 
 
4. (SBU) Police will be stationed outside polling stations 
but are prohibited from entering.  In past elections, police 
have been accused of limiting access to polling stations, 
especially in districts where ruling NDP candidates were 
thought to be at risk of losing.  Police conduct during the 
September 7 poll will be closely scrutinized by domestic 
observers and domestic and international media. 
 
5. (SBU) Despite a court ruling in favor of domestic election 
monitors' right to access polling stations (septel), the 
Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) has decreed that only 
voters, poll workers, supervisory judges, and candidate/party 
representatives will be allowed inside the polling stations. 
 
 
6. (SBU) The Embassy is deploying officers to observe polling 
at various neighborhoods in Cairo and in eight provinces 
outside of Cairo.  The Embassy is also in close touch with 
(USAID-funded) assessment teams dispatched by NDI and IRI, 
and with representatives of the four principal coalitions of 
Egyptian civil society monitors. 
 
7. (SBU) Counting will begin at each polling station after 
polls close at 10 P.M. on September 7.  A copy of the 
instructions issued to judges by the PEC, obtained by the 
Embassy, explicitly forbids judges from releasing the results 
of counts at local polling stations, contrary to the 
recommendation issued by the professional organization 
representing Egyptian judges at their September 2 meeting. 
It is unlikely that any results or other official data will 
be available before late Thursday afternoon, Cairo time, at 
the earliest. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
RICCIARDONE