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White House: Egypt vote a step to free elections

Posted on: Saturday, 10 September 2005, 22:37 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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