[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 22] [House] [Pages 29432-29434] [From the U.S. 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; 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; [[Page 29433]] (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 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. [[Page 29434]] 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 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. ____________________