Hamdeen Sabahi and Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi are Egypt’s final contenders for the 2014 presidential race, the Presidential Election Commission’s (PEC) spokesman Abdel-Aziz Salman said in a press conference on Sunday. PEC – the judicial body supervising the polls – has examined the documents of both contenders and concluded that both candidates meet the eligibility requirements set by the commission, Salman said. Egypt’s elections will be held on 26 and 27 May. Salman also revealed further details of the presidential election process, including the election’s monitoring bodies and the voting process outside of Egypt. The commission has granted approval to six international organisations to monitor the elections and 79 domestic ones who met the requirements. A total of 116 Egyptian organisations applied for monitoring status.
The spokesman also pointed out that the PEC is considering allowing the eliminated domestic organisations to participate in the monitoring process through granting them a “guest status”, the same status granted to the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and the National Council for Women. Out of 44 national and international media institutions that applied for covering the elections, 36 were granted approval, while 13 out of 18 satellite channels were permitted to cover the elections.
Salman also said the two candidates will be able to choose their voting symbols on 3 and 4 May. The candidate who first submitted his documents to the PEC – El-Sisi – will be given priority in choosing his campaign symbol.
El-Sisi has revealed his intention of using a star, while Sabahi requested the eagle, the same symbol he used in the 2012 presidential elections, which was not initially available but was granted by the PEC.
Full Article: Egypt’s PEC announces presidential candidates, election details – Politics – Egypt – Ahram Online.
