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| Africa North |
| EU declines to send observers to Egypt presidential polls |
| 2014-05-18 |
| [Al Ahram] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... said Saturday it would not send observers to Egypt for the country's May 26-27 presidential election, as certain conditions necessary to do the job have not been met. A front man for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc had begun to deploy a mission in the second half of April, but standard EU observation rules "include a number of specific requirements that need to be in place for the election observers to be able to perform their duties." "Despite our best efforts, these requirements have not been met and the timely deployment of the EOM is no longer possible," the front man said in a statement. Giving details of the issue, a European source said the observers were meant to be deployed throughout Egypt, but "it proved impossible to have the telecommunication equipment and medical kits essential to ensure the security and safety of observers released on time". "It is now too late for the long term observers to conduct a meaningful observation," said the source. As a result, the European Union would send a team that would have a "more limited nature and scope of elections' observation, restricted only to Cairo". |
| Posted by:Fred |