Egypt's judges promise to facilitate voting in the third phase of elections

Next Thursday, the third phase of the legislative elections will be held. The advisor Mahmoud Mekke, deputy chairman of the court of cassation, said that judges supervising these elections will try to facilitate the access of voters to the ballot center.

Mekki, member of the judges club explained that reserve judges will be appointed in the governorates so as the judiciary to monitor the situation outside the voting committees besides supervising voting internally.

He described this measure as "very positive" and was "difficultly achieved" through a meeting between the Judges Club and the minister of justice and the chairman of the higher election committee, advisor Mahmoud Abu al-Leil.

However, the chairman of judges club in Alexandria advisor Mahmoud al-Khudeiri expressed pessimism, stressing that this measure will not be successful as far as the executive authority controls the election process. But Mekki said this will enable the candidates to monitor the vote-counting operation. Until now, the chairman of the committee was the only person to know the whole results.

The higher judicial council in Egypt issued a decision on Sunday demanding the attorney general investigate judges who talked to the mass media about violations occurring in the election process.