Egypt Rulers Outline Plan for Elections
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
NYT
CAIRO — Egypt’s interim military rulers established a system on Wednesday for what is promised to be the first free and open elections in the country’s history, laying out a complicated plan evidently designed as a compromise between the competing demands of liberal and Islamist groups.
The parliamentary elections, which will follow the popular revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, are being watched closely around the region as a test of the Arab democracy movement.
Rejecting the suggestions of American officials and many human rights groups, the military said that for reasons of national sovereignty it would not invite international monitors to oversee the elections. But it said that independent Egyptian human rights organizations and other groups would be free to do so.
Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, speaking on behalf of the military’s ruling council, said “the electoral process” would begin in September in compliance with a referendum held in the spring. But for logistical reasons the final vote will take place in three stages over a month later in the fall.
(More here.)
NYT
CAIRO — Egypt’s interim military rulers established a system on Wednesday for what is promised to be the first free and open elections in the country’s history, laying out a complicated plan evidently designed as a compromise between the competing demands of liberal and Islamist groups.
The parliamentary elections, which will follow the popular revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, are being watched closely around the region as a test of the Arab democracy movement.
Rejecting the suggestions of American officials and many human rights groups, the military said that for reasons of national sovereignty it would not invite international monitors to oversee the elections. But it said that independent Egyptian human rights organizations and other groups would be free to do so.
Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, speaking on behalf of the military’s ruling council, said “the electoral process” would begin in September in compliance with a referendum held in the spring. But for logistical reasons the final vote will take place in three stages over a month later in the fall.
(More here.)
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