[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 164 (Sunday, December 18, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H12179-H12182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS WITH RESPECT TO THE 2005 ELECTIONS IN 
                                 EGYPT

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 284) expressing the sense of 
Congress with respect to the 2005 presidential and parliamentary 
elections in Egypt, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 284

       Whereas promoting freedom and democracy is a foreign policy 
     and national security priority of the United States;
       Whereas free, fair, and transparent elections constitute a 
     foundation of any meaningful democracy;
       Whereas Egypt is the largest Arab nation comprising over 
     half the Arab world's population;
       Whereas Congress has long supported Egypt as a partner for 
     peace and stands ready to support Egypt's emergence as a 
     democracy and free market economy;
       Whereas a successful democracy in Egypt would definitely 
     dispel the notion that democracy cannot succeed in the Arab 
     Muslim world;
       Whereas in his 2005 State of the Union Address, President 
     George W. Bush stated that ``the great and proud nation of 
     Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, 
     can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East'';
       Whereas in her June 20, 2005, remarks at the American 
     University in Cairo, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
     stated: ``[T]he Egyptian Government must fulfill the promise 
     it has made to its people--and to the entire world--by giving 
     its citizens the freedom to choose. Egypt's elections, 
     including the Parliamentary elections, must meet objective 
     standards that define every free election.'';
       Whereas on February 26, 2005, Egyptian President Mubarak 
     proposed to amend the Egyptian Constitution to allow for 
     Egypt's first ever multi-candidate presidential election;
       Whereas in May 2005, President Bush stated that Egypt's 
     presidential election should proceed with international 
     monitors and with rules that allow for a real campaign;
       Whereas Egypt prohibited international monitoring in the 
     presidential election, calling such action an infringement on 
     its national sovereignty;
       Whereas domestic monitoring of the election became a major 
     point of contention between the government, the judiciary, 
     and civil society organizations;
       Whereas in May 2005, the Judges Club, an unofficial union 
     for judges, took the provisional decision to boycott the 
     election if their demand for a truly independent judiciary 
     was not met;

[[Page H12180]]

       Whereas the Judges Club initially insisted that the 9,000 
     to 10,000 judges were in no position to monitor the election 
     if plans proceeded for polling at 54,000 stations on one day;
       Whereas the government responded to their demands by 
     grouping polling stations to decrease their number to about 
     10,000, more or less matching the number of available judges;
       Whereas on September 2, 2005, a majority of the general 
     assembly of the Judges Club decided that the judges would 
     supervise the election and report any irregularities;
       Whereas several coalitions of Egyptian civil society 
     organizations demanded access to polling stations on election 
     day and successfully secured court rulings granting them such 
     access;
       Whereas the Presidential Election Council, citing its 
     constitutional authority to oversee the election process, 
     reportedly ignored the court order for several days, before 
     they granted some nongovernmental organizations access to 
     polling stations a few hours before the polls opened;
       Whereas the presidential campaign ran from August 17 to 
     September 4, 2005;
       Whereas the presidential election held on September 7, 
     2005, was largely peaceful, but reportedly marred by low 
     turnout, general confusion over election procedures, alleged 
     manipulation by government authorities, and other 
     inconsistencies;
       Whereas the presidential election was a potentially 
     important step toward democratic reform in Egypt and a test 
     of President Mubarak's pledge to open the country's 
     authoritarian political system;
       Whereas Mr. Mubarak promised to allow during the 
     presidential campaign a free press and independent judiciary, 
     lift emergency laws that stifle political activity, reduce 
     presidential powers in favor of a more freely elected 
     parliament, and allow a slow but steady transition to a 
     liberal democracy;
       Whereas parliamentary elections were held in Egypt in 
     November and December 2005;
       Whereas several local human rights and civil society 
     organizations issued a joint statement declaring unease over 
     the Egyptian Government's criticism of independent judges, 
     stating that the government was trying to deprive the 
     organizations of the right of free expression;
       Whereas reports prepared by judges who monitored the 
     parliamentary elections indicated that numerous violations 
     occurred in the second and third rounds of voting, including 
     the physical prevention of voters from casting their votes, 
     the closure of roads and streets leading to polling stations, 
     and assaults on several judges as they oversaw the elections 
     and protested the security agencies measures to prevent 
     voters from reaching polling stations;
       Whereas other Egyptian nongovernmental election monitors 
     also have complained that security forces blocked thousands 
     of eligible voters from entering polling stations during the 
     parliamentary elections;
       Whereas poll monitors and human rights organizations 
     reported that violence initiated by Egyptian security forces, 
     coupled with wide-scale arrests, contributed to poor turnout 
     across the country during the parliamentary elections;
       Whereas violence during the parliamentary elections, 
     including reports of excessive force by Egyptian security 
     services, resulted in the deaths of several demonstrators and 
     the wounding of dozens more;
       Whereas Ayman Nour, Mr. Mubarak's only serious challenger 
     in the presidential election, was declared in the 
     parliamentary elections to have lost his seat--in a Cairo 
     district that elected him twice before--to a former state 
     security official with reported ties to President Mubarak;
       Whereas it was reported that Mr. Nour, a secular liberal, 
     was harassed repeatedly by Mr. Mubarak's proxies and 
     slandered by the Egyptian media, and local election observers 
     reported numerous irregularities in Mr. Nour's Cairo 
     district;
       Whereas the Egyptian Government's apparent manipulation of 
     the electoral system resulted in a weakening of the secular 
     opposition and a strengthening of the Islamist opposition in 
     Egypt; and
       Whereas it is in the national interests of the United 
     States and Egypt that Egypt be governed by a truly 
     representative, pluralist, and legitimate national 
     parliament: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring),  That Congress--
       (1) recognizes the presidential election held on September 
     7, 2005, as a potential first step toward greater political 
     reforms in Egypt;
       (2) expresses grave concern over the widely reported 
     irregularities during the Egyptian presidential election and 
     parliamentary elections held in November and December 2005, 
     including interference by Egyptian security forces, and the 
     apparent failure of the Government of Egypt to ensure that 
     the elections were free, fair, and transparent;
       (3) calls on the Government of Egypt to take immediate 
     steps to address these reported violations of the fundamental 
     freedoms of the Egyptian people and hold those responsible 
     for such violations accountable;
       (4) recognizes that the development of a democratically-
     elected representative and empowered Egyptian national 
     parliament is a fundamental reform needed to permit real 
     progress toward the rule of law and democracy in Egypt;
       (5) calls on the Government of Egypt to separate the 
     apparatus of the National Democratic Party from the 
     operations of government, to divest all government holdings 
     in Egyptian media, and to end the government monopoly over 
     printing and distribution of newspapers;
       (6) calls on the Government of Egypt to repeal the 1977 
     emergency law which took effect in 1981, as promised by 
     President Mubarak, and in the development of any future anti-
     terrorism legislation to allow peaceful, constitutional 
     political activities, including public meetings and 
     demonstrations, and to allow full parliamentary review of any 
     such legislation;
       (7) expresses disappointment over the failure of the 
     Government of Egypt to ensure that the presidential election 
     was free, fair, and transparent;
       (8) calls on the Government of Egypt, in future elections, 
     to--
       (A) ensure supervision by the judiciary of the election 
     process across the country and at all levels;
       (B) ensure the presence of accredited representatives of 
     all competing parties and independent candidates at polling 
     stations and during the vote-counting; and
       (C) allow local and international election monitors full 
     access and accreditation;
       (9) urges the President of the United States to take into 
     account the progress achieved by the Government of Egypt in 
     meeting the goals outlined in this resolution when 
     determining--
       (A) the type and nature of United States diplomatic 
     engagement with the Government of Egypt; and
       (B) the type and level of assistance to be requested for 
     the Government of Egypt;
       (10) given the responsibility of the Government of Egypt 
     for the outcome of the 2005 presidential and parliamentary 
     elections, calls on the Government of Egypt not to use the 
     strength of the Islamist opposition in Egypt to justify the 
     failure of the Egyptian Government to comply with its 
     international human rights obligations or to undertake the 
     reforms to which it has committed; and
       (11) urges the President and other officers of the 
     Government of the United States to speak with unmistakable 
     clarity in expressing the disappointment of the people and 
     Government of the United States with respect to the behavior 
     of the Government of Egypt during the 2005 presidential and 
     parliamentary elections.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent 
resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in strong support of House Concurrent Resolution 284, as 
amended. Prior to this year's election in Egypt, that country's leader, 
Hosni Mubarak, promised to undertake a series of steps toward a slow 
but steady transition to a free and democratic society. However, in the 
wake of the parliamentary elections it is explicitly clear that those 
commitments remain unfulfilled.
  This concurrent resolution, initially drafted amid an atmosphere of 
hope, had to be updated from the version passed by the House Committee 
on International Relations in order to reflect the grave developments 
that have taken place and to express congressional disappointment with 
the behavior of the Egyptian government and security forces during the 
parliamentary elections.
  Election monitors complained that polling and counting stations were 
blocked and that wide-scale arrests were also used as a means of 
manipulating the electoral process. There were reports of excessive 
force by Egyptian security services resulting in the deaths of several 
demonstrators and the wounding of dozens more.

                              {time}  1415

  We must send a clear message to the Egyptian leadership that such 
behavior is unacceptable and that the concerns contained within this 
resolution need to be addressed if our bilateral relations are not to 
suffer.
  The resolution before us therefore calls on the government of Egypt 
to take immediate steps to address the reported violations of 
fundamental freedoms of the Egyptian people and to hold those 
accountable for those actions and it urges the President to take

[[Page H12181]]

into account what, if any, progress has been achieved by the Government 
of Egypt in meeting the goals outlined in this resolution when 
determining diplomatic engagement with and the type of level of 
assistance to the Government of Egypt.
  This resolution is also forward looking, calling on the Government of 
Egypt to take a series of confidence-building measures in future 
elections.
  Mr. Speaker, it is in the U.S. national security interest and in the 
interest of the Egyptian people for Egypt to be governed by a 
representative freely elected and legitimate national government. I ask 
my colleagues to render their full support to this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 284 and commend 
my good friend, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and my colleague Mr. Ackerman of 
New York, for sponsoring it.
  Mr. Speaker, Egypt held a series of elections this year, both 
presidential and parliamentary. They were the most competitive 
elections Egypt has conducted in many decades; and, broadly speaking, I 
commend President Mubarak for that. But that judgment, of course, is 
rendered against the background of the decidedly noncompetitive and 
unfree elections that have previously marked the quarter century of the 
Mubarak era.
  Accordingly, this resolution is absolutely on target in expressing 
the deep disappointment and grave concern of this body with the heavy-
handed and often violent tactics that the Government of Egypt and its 
security forces continue to employ in order to ensure their unbroken 
dominance. This government-initiated violence apparently was intended 
to limit voting in certain antigovernment districts. It resulted in 
nearly a dozen deaths. In other cases, polling stations were simply 
shut down by the security forces or shadowy groups of nonuniformed 
thugs.
  But many of the problems associated with these elections, arguably 
the most serious problems, had nothing to do with violence. These 
include the Egyptian Government's refusal to allow international 
election monitors and even domestic NGOs meaningful access to polling 
stations and its transparent and successful effort to eviscerate any 
meaningful secular opposition to the ruling party.
  For example, in seeking to convince Egyptians and the world that the 
ruling National Democratic Party is the only bulwark against Islamic 
fundamentalism, the government trumped up legal charges against Mr. 
Ayman Nour, whose secular reformist agenda catapulted him to a second-
place finish in the September presidential elections. This theater-of-
the-absurd legal case crippled Nour's ability to conduct a 
parliamentary campaign, and he even lost his own parliamentary seat 
under highly questionable circumstances.
  In light of all these problems, Mr. Speaker, it is hardly surprising 
that barely one-quarter of the Egyptian electorate even bothered to 
vote, a dismal participation rate which compares most unfavorably with 
the almost-70 percent of the electorate voting in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, this body has every right and obligation to take a deep 
interest in the process of democratization and human rights reform in 
Egypt, the recipient yet again this year of some $2 billion of military 
and economic support from the pockets of American taxpayers. We have 
every right to expect that when Egypt pledges to hold free elections, 
these elections will be truly free.
  As our Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, said at the American 
University in Cairo in June: ``Egypt's elections must meet objective 
standards that define every free election.'' Unfortunately, the 
elections of 2005 fell far short of those standards.
  Mr. Speaker, the administration is set to be seriously contemplating 
the opening of negotiations for a free trade agreement with Egypt next 
month. I think that would be a most regrettable step. It would be 
construed as a signal that the United States is satisfied with the 
State of Egypt's progress toward democratization; and as I am confident 
the vote on this resolution will show, this body decidedly is not 
satisfied at all.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not want to minimize the problems Egypt faces in 
moving towards democracy in a society where income is extraordinarily 
low and the illiteracy rate is unbelievably high, nor should we be 
unconcerned that these elections have revealed that the Fundamentalist 
Brotherhood, which thrives with the impoverished and ill-educated, 
remains a powerful force in Egypt. But I remain convinced that true 
democratization, buttressed by free, fair, transparent and truly 
competitive elections, will allow for the emergence of a secular 
opposition. That is the right way to go about creating a prosperous and 
healthy Egypt.
  So, Mr. Speaker, these elections may represent a step forward, but a 
much shorter and far clumsier step than this body, the American people 
and, most importantly, the Egyptian people have every right to expect. 
That is why I support this resolution and urge my colleagues to do so.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 284, a 
resolution expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the 2005 
presidential and parliamentary elections in Egypt.
  I consider myself a friend of Egypt and while I believe Egypt 
deserves praise and recognition for the steps toward democracy it has 
made this year by moving to a direct vote on the election for the 
office of President and the reforms that followed I must also, as a 
friend, express some disappointment and concern about missed 
opportunities.
  Specifically, I was disappointed to see that more was not done to 
ensure that domestic election monitoring officials would be granted 
full access to polling and counting stations. I have also been 
disappointed to learn about the continued severe limitations placed on 
respected international election observing organizations to gain 
accreditation and reasonable access to polling and counting sites. The 
International Republican Institute, which had a team of international 
election experts on the ground for the recent parliamentary elections 
reported, ``The November 2005 parliamentary election process does not 
support the claim that Egypt is in a process of democratic 
transformation.''
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution rightfully focuses Congress's attention 
on a number of different aspects of the electoral process in Egypt. 
While there are many areas where improvement is needed in Egypt, I 
would like to give credit to Egypt where credit is due. The 
International Republican Institute made the following assessment in the 
conclusion section of its ``2005 Parliamentary Election Assessment in 
Egypt'' about positive developments in the most recent round of 
elections:

       Despite negative aspects of the 2005 Parliamentary 
     elections, it is possible to highlight several notable 
     achievements when compared with elections in the past. First, 
     the role played by the domestic monitoring groups and the 
     Judges' Club--as with the Presidential election--has been 
     important, as elements of civil society begin to take a more 
     active role in advocating for greater democratic freedom and 
     pluralism.
       In addition, between monitoring groups and independent 
     media, the government has permitted a new level of scrutiny 
     from the domestic and international community.
       Several of IRI's delegates had spent time in Egypt in the 
     late 1980's and early 1990's, and noted that the public 
     debate about political reform and criticism of the ruling 
     party and the government would have been unthinkable 10 or 15 
     years ago. The relative freedom with which state-run and 
     independent press can debate these issues is an indicator of 
     progress that should not go unmentioned.

  In closing, I stand ready to support Egypt as it moves toward truly 
competitive democratic elections. This movement is rarely easy, and I 
will be among the first to recognize progress made by Egypt as it 
occurs.
  I would also note that despite all shortcomings in the recent 
elections, Egypt--despite the work that needs to be done--remains a 
leader in the Middle East when it comes to democracy, its relationship 
with the United States, and its positive relationship with Israel. I 
believe it is, in fact, Egypt's close relationship with the United 
States that gives this Congress the responsibility to ensure that this 
relationship enhances the security, prosperity, and the democratic 
freedoms of both peoples.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Latham). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. 
Res. 284, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of

[[Page H12182]]

those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

                          ____________________