One of the most important issues raised in respect of the process of amending the Constitution currently on-going in Egypt is that of the judicial supervision of parliamentary elections.

There are two major points to be noted here. One is that judicial supervision is essential at the present stage of transitioning to democracy; and two is that while the 2000 and 2005 elections were not all positive, they were not all negative either.

It could safely be said that, in those very two instances, judicial supervision has failed to guarantee the integrity and freedom of the voting process.

There is pressing need to distinguish between supervising and managing the elections. What happened in the 2005 elections was more akin to the latter. At the balloting stations, judges had to deal with such minute details as identifying voters, providing voting cards, guiding voters through the voting process and eventually using the phosphoric ink on voters' thumbs. Although of great importance, these duties are not the judges' to do.

Judges should put some distance between themselves and other people. They should not be in a position to lash or have others lash at them. They should be revered by the public.

Judges should be entrusted with the supervision of elections, as against the management thereof. Supervision means that they would monitor the voting process in more than one station within a given radius and that they should be present, observing and interfering promptly to right wrongs.

With the next parliamentary elections more probably taking place in a single day, a judge who, in the 2005 elections, might have monitored the event in one balloting station could be supervising the vote in three stations. He would be listening and resolving complaints on the field, and seeing that his orders are being carried out instantly.

With the judicial supervision of parliamentary elections so guaranteed, there would be no fear of assigning the presidency of sub-committees to employees, the selection of whom would be delegated to an independent authority.

By:Dr. Wahid Abdul-Meguid
Al-Ahram
Janary,15, 2007