“Elections this year will be quite different,” stated Rashwan, addressing residents of the village of Al-Daba`aia in an electoral rally. “There is a large number of foreign reporters and representatives of international and local independent NGOs who will be present at the election polls to monitor the process.”
In a subsequent Q-&-A session, Armant’s residents seemed skeptical about the notion of clean elections, and expressed doubts over the possible hijacking of ballot boxes.
“Myself and other candidates of Armant agreed that if we sensed even a one percent whiff of scam,  we will immediately withdraw from the elections,” said Rashwan, “[This will] put the whole regime in a no-way-out situation.”
Rashwan is the candidate of the leftist Tagammu party running in the district of Armant, one of the four main constituencies of the Upper Egyptian governorate of Luxor. His is the also the only opposition candidate competing for the constituency against 21 competing National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates.