Democracy Development Institute: Elections Procedures Are illegal [Archives:2001/09/Local News]

Mr. Ahmad al-Sufi, Democracy Development Institute secretary, suspects the legitimacy of the local election and constitutional amendments results. In a statement to the YT Mr. al-Sufi said “The voting was nothing but the result of so many violations.” He described the whole procedures from the beginning of the elections process until the voting as “illegal” due to the troubled and confused circumstances which dominated the whole election.
He said that the institute reported and noted thousands of minor violations, plus six major ones committed by the SEC during the election process since the first stages. He revealed that it violated the law, as it denied some of legitimate age participation in the elections and referendum. The SEC has also deprived the religious minorities from the candidacy which is a violation of the principle of full equity among citizens ensured by the constitution.
The administrative division upon which the local elections are based is illegal and is a major violation as it violates the principle of equality among districts restricting rights to choose equal representatives, he added asserting that statistics of the Institute indicate voting had stopped in more than 190 electoral centers due to chaos resulted from the violations committed on the day of voting.
He emphasized that voters were subjected for many pressures, the most outstanding of which is making him stand in confrontations with the authority of the state, besides, violating the secret voting right of citizens.
He also noted the low quality of ink used in the elections through a practical experiment made by the institute asserting that it was easily removed making it possible to forge the elections. The monopoly of official media for the very interest of the ruling party enhances the view that these elections are not at all legal and tend to weaken trust on their results, he concluded his statement.

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