Elections Committee Rejects Sabahi’s Appeal

Egypt’s  Presidential Election Commission (PEC) rejected an appeal by the presidential campaign of candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, who suffered a crushing loss in the poll according to preliminary results of the vote, against violations claimed by it during the poll.

The PEC said, according to Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website, the complaints submitted on Friday were investigated and no evidence was found to support them. The complaints haven’t influenced the results of the poll, the commission added.

Sabahi, who suffered a drastic loss in this week’s poll, gaining only 3.5 percent of the vote, admitted he lost the race in a press conference on Thursday.

His contender, El-Sisi, won a landslide victory of over 96 percent of valid votes, with over 23 million voters casting their ballots for him.

The long-time leftist activist, however, accused the electoral procedure of lacking credibility, citing violations that he says his campaign faced during the election – including his campaign representatives being restricted, attacked and detained, as well as suspicions of forgery and El-Sisi’s representatives being allowed to campaign inside polling stations.

He also questioned the “credibility or ratification” of the announced turnout or results, which he described as “an insult to Egyptian intelligence of the Egyptians.”

Sabahi further rejected a decision by the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) to extend voting by a third day. Both his and El-Sisi’s campaign filed a formal complaint against the decision, which were later rejected.

Source:Al-Ahram Online