CAIRO: A total of 100 judges from the Administrative Prosecution have been commissioned to monitor the 2015 parliamentary elections after a number of judges withdrew from monitoring the electoral process, Parlmanay news website reported Sunday.
A number of supervising judges recused themselves from overseeing the polling in the governorates of Giza, Fayoum, Minya, and Aswan due to the far distances between their homes and the designated polling stations. Others reached their polling stations late, citing no prior knowledge of the address.
The elections will be carried out over two phases; the first stage for citizens in Egypt runs Oct. 18-19 in the 14 governorates of Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assyut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena , Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira, and Matrouh.
The total number of judges appointed by the Administrative prosecution for the first round of the election reached 2,500 judges nationwide.
The High Election Commission (HEC) announced that 16,000 judges have been appointed to supervise the election process in 14,000 polling stations where three other public officials will help citizens cast their votes.
The second round will run Nov. 22-23 and in the governorates of Cairo, Qalubia, Dakahlia, Menoufia, Gharbia, Kafr el-Sheikh, Sharqia, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, and South Sinai.
Run-off elections of the first phase will be carried out Oct. 26-27 for expats and Oct. 27-28 inside Egypt. Meanwhile, run-offs in the second round will be held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 for expats, and Dec. 1 and 2 in Egypt.