CAIRO: Egypt's Supreme Electoral Committee has granted a request from the National Council for Human Rights to waive election-monitoring fees for non-governmental organizations. The fee for permissions should be 5 EGP (U.S. $0.85) per monitor. The elections committee approved the request, as NGOs have a vital role in monitoring elections and providing citizens with political awareness. The request comes as Egypt prepares for its first post-Hosni Mubarak election on November 28. The NCHR also demanded that the Supreme Electoral Committee allow non-governmental organizations to receive election-monitoring permissions directly from the Supreme Judicial Electoral Committee. The Supreme Electoral Committee declined the request. It said the only party designated to coordinate with NGOs is the NCHR, which is assigned to present the NGOs' completed applications to the committee. The NCHR asked to provide NGO monitors with the freedom and proper permissions to monitor all phases of the elections – three rounds of voting and three run-off votes each for the People's Assembly and Shura Council – and to be allowed to monitor in every government. Journalists will need permission from the Press Syndicate through the newspapers they work for in order to cover the electoral process. Arab and foreign correspondents will deal with both the State Information Service and the Press Syndicate if they wish to cover elections.
