13,000 judges abliged to monitor Egyptian elections

The lack of a credible and transparent system for political elections in Egypt has obliged members of the Judiciary to venture into the realms of politics, where the Egyptian elections committee announced that 13,000 judges will be assigned to monitor the process of the first multi-candidate presidential elections due to be held in September.

The Egyptian official News Agency MENA said quoting the chairman of the committee, judge Mamdouh Marai, that the elections will be held fully at the control of the judges who will monitor aspects of the process.

This announcement came after the judges club, called on the elections committee on Thursday to openly announce that the branch committees will be under the supervision of judges.

Besides, the same club, which includes 8,000 judges, threatened in July to boycott the elections if the authorities will not show evidence of its transparency. The club will be meeting by the beginning of September to adopt a final decision over participation.

Meantime, expressing his keenness on holding free and fair presidential elections, President Hosni Mubarak, the chairman of the National Democratic Party gave directives to the NDP secretariat and the government that there must be a separation between the executive and party activities regarding the plan of the party movement during the presidential election. This came in a statement by Youssef Wali, the deputy chairman at a meeting in Fayyoum governorate in the framework of the party's presidential campaign.