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Egyptian Americans claim right to vote in Egypt elections

The Egyptian American Coalition sent a letter to both the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior in early April, calling for actions and measures necessary to enable the Egyptians in the United States to vote in the upcoming elections to be taken by the government.

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The Coalition announced in a statement signed by its Chairman Mahmoud el-Shazly, full solidarity with the demands of the National Assembly for Change led by former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

It also called on Egyptians living in America who do not have voter cards, to register in order to take “appropriate action towards pushing for voter cards to be issued to those who are qualified.”

The coalition said in the statement that it supports the text of Article 62 of the Egyptian Constitution, which states “the citizen has the right to vote and express their opinions in referendums according to the provisions of the law and its contribution to public life and national duty.”

The letter sent by the coalition to the ministries, in both Arabic and English, stressed that the coalition is “demanding their right to participate in elections and referendums to be held in the future in Egypt.”

They also emphasized the need to apply the text of article 1 of Act No. 73 of 1956 that is responsible for regulating the exercise of political rights, which states “Egyptians who reached eighteen years of age may personally exercise their political rights, to express an opinion on each referendum required by the Constitution, the election of the President Republic, and members of the People’s Assembly, Shura Council members and members of local councils.”

The statement added that the coalition “is a grouping of a number of Egyptians living in the United States and we want to mandate the coalition to address the official bodies in Egypt to take actions and measures that enable them to establish an electoral commissions to facilitate them to cast their ballots in the upcoming elections in the Egyptian consulates in the United States.

Republished with permission from Bikya Masr