Two killed in clashes on final day of Egypt's elections
Two people were killed as police fought with voters trying to break the police blockades of polling stations in opposition strongholds today, the final day of Egypt’s parliamentary elections.
Government supporters armed with knives, bottles and machetes attacked voters lined up trying to get into several stations to cast ballots, sparking clashes with supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the government’s main rival in the voting.
In the northern town of Damietta, two men were killed after the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds outside polling stations, said Dr Mohammed Balboula of Damietta Public Hospital.
He named the dead as Shaaban Abdu Ahmed Abu Arbaa and Al-Said Hassan el-Dighidi. There was no immediate confirmation from the Interior Ministry.
Police in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, said earlier today that more than 130 people had been wounded in election violence in four provinces, and more than 80 people were arrested.
Police also cordoned off polling stations in the southern city of Sohag, frustrating hundreds of voters.
Interior Ministry spokesman Ibrahim Hammad issued a statement saying “the election process is going normally,” apart from 10 polling stations where he accused Brotherhood “thugs” of causing disturbances.
“The police are protecting the judges (who supervise polling stations) and helping the voters to reach the ballot box,” Hammad said.
Egypt’s three-stage elections, which began in November, have been plagued by increasing violence as police and government supporters try to put down a strong showing by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which has so far increased its presence in parliament five-fold.
The US sharply criticised the violence, including “intimidation and harassment” and abuse of monitors and voters by Egyptian authorities.
“We’ve seen a number of developments over the past couple weeks during the parliamentary elections that raise serious concerns about the path of political reform in Egypt,” US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters yesterday.
“Clearly, these actions send the wrong signal about Egypt’s commitment to democracy and freedom, and we see them as inconsistent with the Government of Egypt’s professed commitment to increased political openness and dialogue within Egyptian society,” he said.
Washington has pressed President Hosni Mubarak, one of its top allies in the region, to bring greater democracy to Egypt, making the country the cornerstone of President George Bush’s policy of encouraging reform in the Middle East.
But today’s voting – a run-off to the third and final round of the elections - saw a continuation of the violence and police blockades in Brotherhood strongholds.
“What are you afraid of? Why aren’t you letting them inside?” Mohammed al-Mursi, the Brotherhood candidate in the Delta town of Zagazig, shouted at police who seated off a polling station in the Nasiriyah district, preventing hundreds of people from voting.
Police blocked the station even before polls opened. A judge, who arrived to supervise polling, protested at the blockade. The police opened their ranks to let the judge and a few women enter, but then resealed the polling station.
A group of about 25 women then pushed through the police line, but were stopped by other police officers who rushed and held them.
“Nobody is entering here,” a police officer bellowed to the crowd, which continued to push the phalanx of officers. The polling station’s doors were closed.
One woman who did manage to vote, Umm Mohammed, 45, criticised the police, saying: “The right to vote is the simplest right for any Egyptian.”
At another Zagazig station, a battle raged between Brotherhood members and government supporters touting knives who attacked the crowd of voters trying to push their way through the police blockade. Police fired tear gas canisters from time to time, but did not arrest the government supporters. One would-be voter was bleeding from the head.
The government arrested hundreds of Brotherhood members in the lead-up to today’s voting.
The Brotherhood has 35 candidates standing in today’s run-offs for the remaining 127 of the 444 elected seats in parliament. Polling is taking place in nine provinces where no candidate received more than half the vote in the third round of polling on December 1.
So far in the elections, the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak and its allied independents have won 222 seats. The Brotherhood has taken 76 seats, a large jump over the 15 seats it held in the outgoing parliament. Independents have won two seats and other opposition parties have taken 11.
In the Delta town of Dumyatt, police were firing tear gas and rubber bullets at voters during clashes outside at least one poling station, Brotherhood officials said.
In the north Sinai town of el-Arish, voters waited for hours outside two polling stations that were blocked off by lines of police, and clashes broke out between voters and police.
In the southern city of Sohag, a crowd of up to 400 voters waited outside the Mohammed Farid School, which was being used as a polling station, but they were blocked from entering by lines of police.
“They say the school is closed. They want to allow only NDP supporters to vote here. I’m very upset. This injustice must stop,” greengrocer Abdel Moneim, 55, said.
The head of the General Elections Committee in Sohag, Judge Abou Magd Issa, said he had received no complaint in writing about barring voters from polling stations. His office was no more than 150 metres from the Mohammed Farid school.
Asked why he did not walk down the street, the judge said: “I have people visiting the polling centres and reporting to me. It is up to the security services to maintain security outside the polling stations. I cannot control them.”
During the three-round elections, two people have died in violence at the polls and dozens injured. Independent monitors and human groups have reported numerous irregularities, including the bussing of state employees to polling stations, tampering with ballot boxes, bribing of voters, blockading of polling stations, and intimidation and assaults on voters.
Judges have set aside the outcome in three constituencies, leaving six seats undecided in regions where voting was deemed too fraudulent or violent to let stand.
In the outgoing parliament, the NDP had 398 seats, the Brotherhood controlled 15 and true independents 23 and opposition legislators held 16.
The Muslim Brotherhood calls for implementing Islamic law but has long been vague about what this means. It campaigns for headscarves for women and against immodest dress, for example, but it insists it stands for a more moderate version of Islam than that followed in Saudi Arabia.
