CAIRO
An observer mission sent by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said Wednesday that it had not found any "irregularities" in Egypt's presidential election, hailing the cooperation of Egyptian officials with international monitors.
Addressing a press conference in Cairo, delegation chief Felix Mutati said no irregularities had been reported during the voting process, especially in terms of transparency and democratic standards.
He hailed the organization of the polling process and the cooperation of Egyptian officials with observers, along with what he described as the provision of "equal chances" to delegates of the two presidential contenders in regard to following the voting process.
Mutati, a former Zambian trade minister, said his report on the Egyptian election was "preliminary" and that a final report would be issued on Friday.
Egyptians on Wednesday continued to cast ballots on the third and final day of Egypt's presidential poll, in which former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is facing off against leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi.
The vote is the second step of an army-imposed transitional roadmap unveiled last July following the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.
The roadmap, which included a constitutional referendum in January, will conclude with parliamentary elections later this year.
The winner of the presidential polls will take over from interim president Adly Mansour, who was installed by the army following Morsi's ouster and subsequent imprisonment almost 11 months ago.
Five international organizations and 79 local ones have been authorized by Egypt's electoral commission to observe the voting process.
In addition to nongovernmental monitors, envoys from COMESA, the Arab League, the European Union and the African Union are observing the vote.
Around 300,000 police and army personnel have been deployed to secure the process nationwide.
By Hagar al-Dosoki
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
