National human rights report on presidential elections

The National Council for Human Rights under Butros Ghali has submitted to President Hosni Mubarak a report on following up the latest presidential elections.

The report includes remarks contained in 11 follow up reports by NGOs out of their follow up of elections inside and outside the poll stations.

The report stressed the importance of amending Article No. 76 which creates a difficult barrier for independent candidates to be able to run in elections, such as requiring the need for candidates to have the support of 250 members of the People's Assembly, the Shura Council and local councils before being eligible to run for office.

It called for clearing voters lists saying they should be made in line with the ID national number in order to avoid any mistakes and stressed the need for providing measures that could allow NGOs to monitor presidential elections in future.

Also, the report requested for drawing up a legislative and legal framework that allows Egyptians working abroad to cast their votes in elections.