Constitution should satisfy Egypt’s pluralism

Director General of the Arab League Nabil al-Araby participated in Egypt’s Constitutional Decree referendum on Saturday, amid claims of electoral violations and polling station clashes. Al-Araby meanwhile argued that the constitution should satisfy the different trends within Egyptian society, not just a single faction. Member of the Egyptian Democratic Social Party Atif Adly claimed that the National Salvation Front’s operations room had ascertained that the majority of supervisors in polling stations were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. According to Adly, the National Council of Human Rights (NCHR) refused to provide licenses to their representatives. The National Salvation Front had submitted complaints to the Supreme Commission of Elections regarding violations, he said. Dalia Zeyada, executive manager of the Ibn-Khaloun Centre, told Arabstoday they had monitored a number of violations, including the absence of judges in some polling stations. Zeyada added that a number of governorates had witnessed violent clashes between opponents and supporters of the new constitution in Alexandria, Assiut and el-Mahalla. Security forces did not break up the clashes, she claimed. Former presidential candidate Khaled Ali also submitted a complaint against the judge supervising the No 15 polling station in al-Maadi, accusing the official of electoral fraud.