The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) has proposed the use of the national express mail service (EMS) to deliver the ballots of Egyptian expats. Judge Abdel Mo’ez Ibrahim, head of the SEC, said that the commission is exploring the possibility and how to apply this mechanism from a legal standpoint.
The Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted Ibrahim as saying that so far only proposals have been tabled with regards to expat votes, but nothing concrete has yet been introduced to the constitutional declaration to legalize these measures. On Oct. 25, an Administrative Court ruled that Egyptians abroad long deprived of the vote under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, will have the right to cast their ballots in the upcoming polls.
“From what I understand of this proposal, each expat would receive a closed envelope that contains three documents; one is an endorsement of himself that he is eligible to vote in which he fills his data and two ballots, one for the parties lists and the other for individual candidates,” Hazem Abdel Azim, an IT expert, said at a conference Thursday.
After the voter fills the three forms, he said, he/she should put them and a copy of his driver’s license or of his residence document in the envelope. The supervisors of the electoral process would then check the voter’s name in the electoral list and place it in the ballot box in the embassy or consulate while guaranteeing that the voting is done within a direct confidential process.
Full Article: Electoral Commission proposes expats vote by express mail.
