US embassy cable - 05CAIRO7794

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 007794 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR ABRAMS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, EG 
SUBJECT: PDAS CHENEY DISCUSSES ELECTIONS WITH EGYPTIAN 
INTERIOR MINISTER 
 
REF: CAIRO 7155 
 
Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) During a September 29 meeting, NEA PDAS Elizabeth 
Cheney and DAS Scott Carpenter discussed with Interior 
Minister General Habib El-Adly preparations for Egypt's 
parliamentary elections.  Adly insisted that police and other 
security personnel would adhere to strict neutrality through 
the electoral process, and attributed most past charges of 
interference to sour grapes from losing candidates.  Adly 
acknowledged that there were problems with the voters lists, 
but asserted that MOI strictly applied the law with regard to 
maintaining and controlling them.  Adly claimed MOI would 
step up voter information campaigns and would try to avoid 
even the appearance of intimidation.  In this regard, Adly 
announced that he had decided "to act on the U.S. 
Ambassador's advice" and move those polling places currently 
in police stations to neutral venues.  Adly said he had no 
objection to the introduction of transparent ballot boxes, 
but predicted Egyptian judges would perceive such an 
initiative as a slight.  We have since learned that the MOI 
may be moving ahead on its own with transparent boxes.  End 
summary. 
 
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Watchword Neutrality 
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2. (C) Adly affirmed that Egyptian security forces would be 
strictly neutral during the process.  Adly dismissed 
complaints that Egyptian police had intervened on behalf of 
ruling party candidates during the 2000 parliamentary 
elections, characterizing the charges as sour grapes from 
candidates who failed to compete effectively.  Adly noted 
that 17 members associated with the Muslim Brotherhood had 
won seats in the 2000 elections, citing this fact as evidence 
of the Ministry of Interior's neutrality: "they never would 
have won if I had been dictating the results" he stated.   At 
the same time, Adly continued, police have a duty to maintain 
public order and sometimes have to intervene when violence 
between supporters of rival candidates erupts.  A number of 
such incidents occurred in 2000, he stated, particularly in 
the Nile Delta. 
 
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Voter List Woes 
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3. (C) PDAS Cheney asked Adly about problems with the voter 
lists, maintained by the Ministry of Interior.  Flaws in the 
voter list were the single biggest problem in the September 7 
presidential election, according to both domestic election 
monitors and assessments by NDI and IRI.  Adly acknowledged 
that the lists were riddled with imperfections, but insisted 
that the MOI adhered rigorously to the law in maintaining the 
lists.  According to the law, the Minister stated, citizens 
have an annual three month window, between December and 
March, to add or correct entries in the voter lists. 
Citizens born after 1981 are automatically entered onto the 
voter list, he added. 
 
4. (C) PDAS Cheney also asked the Minister about reports that 
many deceased citizens continue to haunt the voter lists 
(observers contend these dead voters are often put to work by 
persons tampering with elections).  Adly acknowledged that 
the GOE encountered difficulties in purging the lists of the 
deceased.  Many old civil records are handwritten the 
Minister explained, and names get garbled at the data entry 
process.  Citizens have a responsibility to ensure their 
names are correctly registered, but too few actually exercise 
this responsibility, he added, because Egypt has not had, 
"for certain historical reasons," a strong "culture of 
political participation." 
 
5. (C) On complaints that opposition parties had not had the 
opportunity to review voter lists in advance of the September 
7 elections, Adly insisted that these had been the 
instructions of the Presidential Elections Commission -- the 
lists were not to be distributed in advance to any party.  He 
was surprised by claims that the ruling NDP had received 
advance copies of the lists.  "Some of the opposition claims 
distort reality," he stated. 
 
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More Information, Less Intimidation 
----------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) The MOI was stepping up its public information 
campaign, Adly stated, in newspapers, radio, and television, 
in order to be sure citizens had adequate information about 
where, when, and how to vote.  Adly lamented that sometimes 
MOI initiatives to encourage participation were 
misinterpreted as intimidation.  He recounted that the MOI 
had called off past efforts to deliver voter cards to voters' 
residences, after the ministry had been accused of attempting 
to frighten citizens into voting for Mubarak.  In the same 
vein, Adly added "I have decided to act on the advice of your 
new Ambassador (reftel), and I have ordered that all polling 
places located in police stations be moved to alternate 
sites."  (Comment: The decision to move voting out of police 
stations, based on a recommendation by U.S.-led assessment 
teams that watched the Sept. 7 presidential election, is a 
positive development.  End comment.) 
 
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Party Penetration 
----------------- 
 
7. (C) PDAS Cheney asked the Minister about reports that 
State Security elements penetrate opposition parties in order 
to monitor them.  Adly at first seemed taken aback but 
quickly found his stride, stating that he was aware of such 
charges, and reprised the theme that the MOI is often 
scapegoated by uncompetitive candidates and parties. When 
PDAS Cheney pressed on whether there would be a change in 
policy on the issue of infiltration of opposition parties, 
Adly replied, &I must have my people there because I need to 
know what is going on on the ground.8 (Comment:  We noted 
that Adly did not explicitly deny the charge.  We judge 
claims that State Security closely monitors party activity, 
to include paying or implanting informers, as generally 
credible.  In Ayman Nour's criminal forgery trial, his entire 
defense rests upon claims that he was framed by State 
Security elements which penetrated the Ghad Party.  End 
comment.) 
 
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Transparent Boxes 
----------------- 
 
8. (C) Finally, PDAS Cheney asked the Minister about the 
possibility of using transparent ballot boxes in the coming 
elections.  Such boxes have become standard in many parts of 
the world, she noted, and were an important symbol of a 
transparent electoral process.  Adly was non-committal in his 
response, predicting that judges charged with overseeing the 
elections would perceive the move as a slight to their 
integrity.  "The judges have been stubborn on so many 
issues," he stated.  "Personally, I have no objection to the 
idea," Adly added.  (Comment:  We have since heard that MOI 
may be moving forward with its own procurement of transparent 
ballot boxes for the parliamentary elections.  According to 
the prominent lawyer Mona Zulficar, who met the PDAS and DAS 
on September 29, and who has been undertaking a private 
initiative to urge the GOE to adopt the boxes, the MOI is 
seeking to procure transparent boxes on its own.  An MOI 
source told us that the transparent box issue was "under 
active consideration" but would not confirm whether a 
decision has been made.  End comment.) 
 
 
RICCIARDONE