Egyptian expats to vote

A la veille des elections legislatives prevues le mois prochain, l'une des questions sur le tapis est cells du droit de vote pour les egyptiens expatries.

8 October 2011 was named the day for a virtual invitation that was dispatched on Facebook to encourage Egyptians living abroad to demonstrate in front of the Egyptian Embassies and Consulates and in front of the Cabinet of Ministers in Cairo to support the droit de vote pour les egyptiens expatries. They called for sending committees to speedily issue national identity cards to the expats, amend the law for political rights, establishing mechanisms to allow Egyptian expats to vote. An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “there was only one demonstration that took place in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Washington D.C.”
Egyptian expats are interested in voting in the upcoming elections and they don’t feel alienated from their home country or its problems, Ayman Tarshouby from Australia, said, “it is a matter of dignity and pride. When finally Egyptians get the right to be heard, it is important that all should be heard without depriving part of the community from that right.” Others from Canada, United States and Japan agreed on their eagerness to vote in the upcoming elections. Some are already checking with embassies and consulates as to when they will vote. They confirmed that Living abroad doesn’t make them alienated from their homeland and regardless of their status; students, professionals or investors, they believed that they have an inalienable right to vote and have a say in their country’s future. On the other hand, they confirmed that the Egyptian expats will be so disappointed in the absence of allowing them to vote and they made it clear that the onus of the blame will be borne by Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented in the embassies and consulates abroad, because few will understand the exact mechanism within the government to allow Egyptians living abroad to vote.
The number of Egyptians living abroad is approximately between 7 to 8 million people. Around 74% of them live in Arab countries while 26% live in Western countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, the remittances of Egyptians abroad are an important asset to the economy of Egypt. According to a report by the Central Bank of Egypt, remittances of Egyptians abroad increased from 9.8 billion USD in the fiscal year 2009/2010 to 12.6 billion USD in 2010/2011. Despite their contribution to the economy of their origin, the issue of allowing Egyptians abroad to vote has been subject to debate for a long time and no conclusion was reached so far. One expat from Japan said that while Egypt is seeking their support to reconstruct Egypt and invest in the country after the revolution, it will be so difficult to show real interest and solidarity while deprived from their right to vote in elections.
SCAF issued message number 49 in April 2011 to confirm that no decision is taken to ban Egyptian expats from voting as claimed through the media. Later, in September General Mamdouh Shaheen, Assistant Minister of Defence and Member of CSFA confirmed the legitimacy of the call of the expats to vote, but he spoke of the difficulty that SCAF can’t assign a judge to monitor elections in every place where the Egyptian Expats reside and it is not possible to hold elections without judicial supervision. He said that it is necessary to look into different options to solve this issue. Summing up, he stated that all the issues relating to voting rights of Egyptian abroad and other matters regarding elections are all within the competence of the Supreme Committee for Elections and not within the competence of SCAF.
Moreover, Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that to grant the Egyptian expats that right, it requires a decision from the Supreme Committee for Elections. At the same time, Justice Abd El Moez Ibrahim, Chief of the Cairo Court of Appeal and Chair of the Supreme Committee for Elections stated that Egyptian expats voting requires a sovereign decision and it is not within the competence of the Committee to issue it.
Commenting on these contradictory statements, Dr. Gamal Soltan, analyst and Lecturer of Politics at the American University in Cairo said that “he believes that the supreme leadership in the army is troubled to take a decision that will change the familiar electoral base that it knows because the predictability will be jeopardized. Hence, this will limit the effects of the supreme leadership on the process.” He added, “There are so many political views and contradictory analysis about the issue, nevertheless, the comments is an attempt by SCAF to run away from the responsibility and hurl it to others. The others know that the decision is out of their domain and the statement by the Supreme Committee for Elections leads to the embarrassment of SCAF.”
Mr. Soltan also spoke of the difficulties that the Government may encounter in order to guarantee the assistance of the host states where there are big numbers of Egyptian expatriates, he said “in the lack of studies about the issue, hypothetically, some states may not welcome the move, especially in the Gulf where there is a big Egyptian community and the supreme ideology is conservative.” He added that “Egypt is passing though difficult unusual times and the upcoming elections are very important not only for Egyptians, but also internationally and regionally. Hence, a pertinent question arises on how far the host states will not interfere in the electoral process which may further the uncertainty of the outcome. Moreover, legitimacy issues may arise due to the difference between host States, not with regard to casting the vote as such but in the political differences and how far this will affect the legality of the process.” Confirming this view, A Diplomat from a Gulf States stated that “cooperation may not be granted by some Gulf States to the Egyptian embassies and consulates, for 2 main reasons, the fear of huge blocks of Egyptians gathering in one place which may cause not only logistical but security problems and may lead to clashes between them and the authority representatives who will assist in organizing the process. The other aspect is the fear in some conservative societies of spreading the culture of elections among their nationals, bearing in mind the big numbers of Egyptians in comparison to the westerners who vote in their embassies in the Gulf Countries.”
One hypothetical issue the Dr. Soltan has raised and no one spoke of so far the issue of “no tax, no representation,” which states that if one is not a tax payer or evade paying taxes then one shouldn’t have a say in the representation in the country. Expats commenting on this point stated, “Most of those who don’t pay taxes in Egypt evade it because they don’t find a true justification for it, although they pay high taxes to the foreign governments of the states they live in. They do the latter because; they get services in return to their taxes from good health care, to education to others, which is different than the situation in Egypt. Furthermore, if in Egypt, voters are not deprived from that right whether they pay their taxes or not, then the expats should be granted the same right.”
One official from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that “the right of expats to vote is indisputable and it should be organized to take place, but MFA is an implementer and not a decision maker in the matter.” she added, “it is feasible to open the door for expats to vote in elections but there will be a need to gather full information about the exact numbers of Egyptians who have the right to vote in every country, Consular missions and embassies will need to visit Egyptian blocks in collaboration with the local authorities, in order to reach out to people and build confidence among them in the process. This will require support for; the human resources available at the missions, financial and security support. Logistical support will also be required; to issue the national identity card to the expats, unless they will be allowed to use their passports and the machines to count the votes.” She also confirmed that from her experience, “many countries especially western countries will lend the necessary support to our missions abroad during the elections.”