A group of young activists from Al-Hayat Center for Civil Society Development has conducted a protest set in before the parliament on 16th June 2012 at the same time of the parliament’s first session today to discuss the election law after the committee’s submission of the final draft of the law.

The youth is organizing this protest set in to advocate for the international standards of free and fair elections, in which the youth are focusing on:

·      Usage of inking voters’ fingers

·      Using ballot that includes, each Candidate’s name, picture, and symbol, to avoid illiterate voting and guarantee the secrecy of voting.

·      Voters should register to vote and vote in specific polling centers at the electoral district to avoid open voting anywhere in the electoral district which creates huge problems for fraud prevention, especially with electronic voter register (they should register to vote and vote at the same center)

·      The importance to publish the voters’ lists and the elections’ winners lists of each polling center at the same centers.

·      Increase the seats allocated for the national proportional list to reach minimum 30 seats.

·      Increase the number of votes to 3 votes on the level of electoral districts and one vote for the national proportional list

 

Al-Hayat confirm that this law if enacted as its currently drafted will also limit the Higher Independent Commission for Elections actions and initiatives to guarantee fair and transparent elections, such as the art (4) for illiterate voting among other articles.