By AFP
CAIRO: Human Rights Watch accused Egypt on Wednesday of repression and of intimidating opposition candidates in the run-up to Sunday’s parliamentary election, which it said made a free and fair vote extremely unlikely.
“The combination of restrictive laws, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests is making it extremely difficult for citizens to choose freely the people they want to represent them in parliament,” HRW’s deputy Middle East director Joe Stork was quoted as saying in a 24-page report.
“Repression by the government makes free and fair elections extremely unlikely this weekend,” he added.
The main opposition Muslim Brotherhood, which runs candidates as independents to skirt a ban on religious parties, says more than 1,200 members have been rounded up since it announced in October that it would participate in the election.
“The timing of these arrests and the blocking of campaign events make it clear that the purpose of these arrests is to prevent the political opposition from campaigning effectively,” Stork said.
The New York-based rights group also highlighted repeated government refusal to allow international supervision of the election and its failure to issue permits to numerous Egyptian organizations seeking to monitor the vote.
“Four days before the elections, 123 organizations in two of the main monitoring coalitions have yet to receive a single one of the 2,229 permits they requested,” Stork said.
On Saturday, Amnesty International voiced similar concerns about the intimidation of candidates and voters and criticized fresh restrictions on the opposition.
Both groups criticized Egypt’s 29-year-old state of emergency, which HRW said “has given security officials free rein to prohibit or disperse election-related rallies, demonstrations and public meetings, and to detain people indefinitely without charge.”
