Former US President Jimmy Carter, who is leading a delegation monitoring Egypt's first post-revolt presidential election, said on Saturday the process was "encouraging" despite unprecedented constraints. "I would say that these (elections) have been encouraging to me," he told a news conference in Cairo, but added that his Carter Centre had "constraints placed on us as witnesses that have never been placed on us before."
In a statement, his Centre said its delegation and campaign observers were not allowed to see the collation of counted votes at regional stations, "undermining the overall transparency of the process." "There is no way we can certify that the entire process was proper," Carter told journalists. Carter said it had been a "difficult decision" for him to accept restrictions, which included a limit on the length of time monitors could stay in polling stations.