India to provide 'wonder' EVMs to Egypt

Rania
Cairo, Apr 22 (PTI) Describing EVMs as "wonder" machines
of democracy, India has said it would provide these electronic
devices to Egypt to assist in its electoral process in the
post-Mubarak era.
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, who is on a
5-day visit to Egypt to apprise top officials in the country
about India's electoral system and the usage of Electronic
Voting Machines (EVMs), however, said India does not support
international monitoring of elections and hence would not
participate in monitoring polls in this North African country.
"India is glad to lend Egypt its machines since there
is not enough time left before elections," Quraishi, who is
accompanied by a five-member team, told reporters after a
meeting with Egyptian Minister of Justice and Communication
and two counsellors.
Egypt's military rulers had last month announced an
interim Constitution and said presidential elections would be
held by November after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular
uprising in February.
Quraishi hailed the relations between the two countries
where "the most ancient civilizations can be found", noting
that Egypt was at the crossroad of democracy.
He said India was ready to offer all its experience to
the "budding" democracy in Egypt.
Quraishi called the Electronic Voting Machine as "the
wonder machine of democracy" and said it had "revolutionised"
elections in India.
The elections in Egypt later this year would be the
second presidential polls in its history, following the
2005 exercise.
Mubarak, who was forced to quit in February, had been
President since 1981 following the assassination of Anwar
Sadat.
Potential candidates for the top post include Mohamed
ElBaradei, ex-Director General of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA); Amr Moussa, current Secretary-General
of the Arab League; and Ahmed Zewail, an Egyptian-American
scientist and winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize for Chemistry,
among others.