Egypt

PEC: Complaints won’t affect election results

Complaints filed on Tuesday by presidential candidates Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq against the electoral process would not affect the outcome of the runoff held last Saturday and Sunday, said Abdel Aziz Salman, the deputy secretary general of the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC).

Salman told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Wednesday that the campaign of the Freedom and Justice Party’s Morsy would present its complaints at 2 pm, while former Prime Minister Shafiq’s campaign would begin its case at 5 pm.

"The commission [PEC] has been convened to review the charges and make a final decision," Salman said, declining to state the number of votes that could be affected by the complaints.

Over the past two days, both campaigns have claimed victory for their candidates and have reported different voting results. The PEC said it was not responsible for these unofficial announcements. PEC’s official announcement of the results had been set for Thursday, but yesterday commission head Farouk Sultan said this announcement will likely be delayed.

Meanwhile, a security source said Wednesday that the Giza Security Directorate had formed a team to investigate allegations that nearly 2 million pre-marked ballots were printed in the government's publishing house and used during the runoff election.

The source, who asked not to be named, said investigators have begun hearing testimonies from workers at the publishing house, and noted that security authorities have received reports that an unnamed individual may have paid one of the workers LE1 million in return for printing out the pre-marked ballots.

The same source added that workers told investigators a bearded man had been frequently visiting the publishing house and befriending the employees.

The suspect’s location has been identified and he will be summoned for interrogation, according to the source.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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