Rights activists in Egypt are struggling to ensure they will be able to monitor parliament elections on Sunday, which they expect to be plagued by rigging. But they are hoping for help from would-be voters themselves through an Internet map tracking violations at the polls.
Egyptians who witness any cheating, police intimidation or violence will be able to send messages via mobile phones, Facebook and Twitter to volunteers staffing a website called U-shahid.com, who will then post the location and nature of the violations on a map of Egypt.
It's a step, but even activists admit it's only a small one to at least document what happens.
The last parliamentary election, in 2005, saw police closing off entire polling stations to ensure opposition voters could not get in, sparking riots at some sites that left at least 10 people dead.
Rights activists expect this time will be no different, though the government insists past votes were clean and that this one will be fair as well. Already before the voting, police and armed gangs have broken up campaign rallies by candidates of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, and more than 1,000 Brotherhood activists have been arrested. The government has forced the closure of several independent TV stations, while rejecting calls -- including from the United States -- to allow in international monitors of the balloting.
"When media is being restricted, when monitoring is refused -- all this puts a question mark over the elections," said Hafez Abu Saada, the head of Egypt's oldest rights group who has mobilized 120 Egyptian NGOs and trained volunteers to try to monitor the vote.
"It's obvious the government wants to carry out the elections in the dark and the results won't reflect the real desires of Egyptians," said Abu Saada, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.
Local monitors must get permission to work from the Election Commission, which has set strict limitations on what they can do. They can enter the polling stations to watch voting, but they are barred from questioning election officials or voters or surveying the voters.
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