Egyptian opposition talk of election irregularities

The process of counting Egyptian votes started in the first multi candidate presidential election to take place in the country amid accusations from the opposition and organizations of violations during it.

Official results of the elections are expected to be announced today evening or tomorrow morning.

Al-Jazeera satellite TV said that there are several complaints over permitting certain voters to cast their votes without election cards in voting locations such as the 10th of October, al-Mansoura, and Housh Issa.

Some citizens complained of not finding their names in the committees they belong to, and also from misspelling of names which deprives a voter from casting his vote. The reports indicated that there were five ballot boxes in one committee, which made it difficult on judges who are monitoring the elections.

Al-Wafd and al-Ghad opposition parties complained that their representatives were not able to join certain committees in the governorates of Asyout, Suhaj and Port Saeed. Sources from the two parties said that the representatives of the ruling party campaigned inside the voting centers.

Deputy chairman of al-Ghad party Hisham Qasem on Wednesday and after the closing of the voting ballots counted violation committed during the election process, expecting that "falsifications will also continue during the selection of votes."

For his part, the leading figure in al-Wafd party Munir Fakhri Abdul Nour said that he himself saw the occurrence of large violations in the voting centers in Cairo, adding that these include giving money as bribes to voters, and using the government transport facilities for the interest of President Hosni Mubarak. He expressed a feeling of frustration over these violations, as he alleged.

For his part, the deputy general guide for the Muslim Brothers expected that the general inclination that some members of his movement will vote for one candidate, noting that this does not mean that they represent all Muslim Brothers.

Muhammad al-Fayoumi, one representative of the independent monitoring group Shayfenkum (we see you) said that the chairman of one of the voting centers had forced voters to vote in the open, while, according to observers reports, certain committees had no necessary curtains for secret voting.

Meantime, the national ruling party considers that these cases will not affect the credibility, nor transparency of the election process. The Egyptian minister of information Anas al-Faqi described the elections as an unprecedented experience and played down the importance of certain violations.