Egypt

Public prosecutor calls for investigation into Shafiq’s vote rigging complaint

Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud sent a letter to Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky demanding he assign a judge to investigate reports that the presidential election was flawed.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Adel al-Saeed said that investigations must be carried out under the law.

Losing presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq filed a complaint with Mahmoud last month claiming that the election was rigged.  

Morsy garnered 51.7 percent of votes to Shafiq’s 48.3 percent in the election runoff in June.

Shafiq’s complaint listed specific incidents of ballot rigging and invalidation. He also demanded an explanation for a Muslim Brotherhood press conference announcing the result of the election before the Presidential Elections Commission had released the official results.

The complaint also called for investigations into instances in which Christians were prevented from voting and cited a Carter Center report detecting rigging in favor of his opponent, as well as foreign press reports claiming that his opponent received US$50 million in funding.  

Hatem Bagato, secretary general of the PEC, said the prosecution is in charge of following up on Shafiq’s complaint under the guidelines of the law. He did not comment on the PEC’s decisions being immune from challenges under the Constitutional Declaration.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Related Articles

Back to top button