Egypt’s National Elections Authority (NEA) revealed a surprising number of electoral districts from which formal complaints were filed regarding the conduct of the first phase of the 2025 parliamentary elections, RT reported on Monday.
The Executive Director of the NEA, Ahmed Bendary, confirmed that the authority is currently reviewing complaints concerning electoral violations that occurred in approximately 40 out of the 70 electoral districts in the first phase of the parliamentary elections.
Bendary stressed that the authority’s board of directors is in continuous session to examine all reported appeals and violations, whether submitted officially or circulated through media outlets and social media platforms.
Decisions would be based on evidence and documentation, he said, emphasizing that the authority would not hesitate to partially make re-elections in one or more districts, or even cancel the entire process, if a “fundamental flaw” impacting the voters’ will was proven.
Bendary concluded by affirming that the ultimate goal is to protect voter rights and ensure the democratic process proceeds with transparency and integrity, so that Egypt remains “a beacon of democracy.”
The NEA pledges to investigate complaints
The NEA earlier had announced its commitment to investigating all grievances submitted regarding the first phase of the parliamentary elections, following the intervention of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in response to demands from citizens concerning violations at the time.
The NEA head Judge Hazem Badawy, affirmed that “no voter will enter the Egyptian Parliament except by the will of the voters,” and that “any violation witnessed in any polling station in any electoral district will be sufficient and clear grounds for nullifying the election results in that entire electoral district, paving the way for a re-election.”
President Sisi had previously directed the NEA in a post on his official social media accounts to thoroughly investigate all appeals submitted regarding incidents that occurred in some electoral districts where individual candidates competed, following reports of fraud and violations of the electoral process in some districts.
Sisi instructed the authority to “exercise thoroughness when examining these events and the appeals submitted regarding them, and to make decisions that are pleasing to God Almighty and that honestly reflect the true will of the voters.”
He called on the authority to “enhance the transparency of the procedures by ensuring that each candidate’s representative receives a copy of the vote tally from the sub-committee, so that the members of parliament truly represent the people of Egypt.”
Sisi advised the NEA “not to hesitate in making the right decision if it is impossible to ascertain the true will of the voters, whether by completely canceling this stage of the elections or partially canceling it in one or more electoral districts, with the remaining elections to be held later.”
