White House: Egypt vote a step to free elections

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration on Saturday
called Egypt’s recent elections an “important step” in the
process of political reform and said flaws should be fixed in
time for the parliamentary election in November.

U.S. President George W. Bush called Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak to congratulate him on his victory earlier this
week, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a
statement.

“This election represents an important step toward holding
fully free and fair competitive multi-party elections, and both
supporters and opponents of the government have told us that it
has occasioned a vigorous national debate in Egypt on important
issues,” McClellan said.

“We expect it will be part of a process of continuing
political reforms and that the flaws that were visible in this
election will be corrected for November’s parliamentary
election.”

Mubarak, who has ruled for 24 years, received 88.6 percent
of votes in Wednesday’s election, a result that sounded little
different from the old system of yes-no presidential
referendums that the contested race replaced.

A White House national security spokesman said earlier this
week there had been reports in some polling places of election
officials urging voters to support Mubarak, but no reports of
violence or blatant voter intimidation.

One prominent Mubarak rival had said there were widespread
abuses that undermined the election.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday called on
Egypt to address what she called “valid criticisms” of the
electoral process and said more needed to be done to increase
people’s confidence in the election process.

She also called on Mubarak to fulfill a campaign promise
and put an end to 24 years of emergency law.

“President Mubarak now has an opportunity to follow through
on several key campaign promises, including a pledge to lift
the emergency law,” she said.

Throughout Mubarak’s presidency, Egyptians have lived under
emergency laws that allow authorities to detain people
indefinitely. Thousands remain in prison without charge, most
of them Islamists.

While election monitors listed abuses like ballot stuffing
and intimidation, several monitoring groups said such abuses
were not as serious as in previous votes and that three weeks
of campaigning have encouraged a political debate not witnessed
in decades.

Rice said Egypt should codify and implement internationally
accepted electoral practices, ensure freedom of expression and
protect against intimidation and violence.