Cairo, July 22 (ANI): Egypt's ruling military council has banned foreign election observers for the November polls.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces Supreme Council, took the decision on Thursday.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said elections would be delayed to November, two months later than originally expected.
International monitors will not be permitted on the grounds of national sovereignty, said Major General Mamdouh Shahin, the military council's legislative adviser.
"This is a very terrible development," says Bahey El Din Hassan, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
A fair vote is vital to establishing both domestic and international trust in Egypt's new government, and international monitors would be a natural way to ensure one, said Hassan.
Election fraud was rife throughout the 30 years of Mubarak's rule. Parliamentary elections held in November and December of last year were widely seen as some of the most fraudulent in Egypt's modern history. (ANI)
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