Egypt’s General Command of the Armed Forces has made arrangements to assist the Interior Ministry to secure the presidential elections across Egypt and provide a safe environment for citizens to cast their votes during March 26-28.

“The armed forces are involved in securing the electoral process with its elements in coordination with the bodies of the Interior Ministry, and the Supreme Elections Authority and all the concerned bodies in the state,” the spokesman of the armed forces, Tamer Refaei, said in a statement on Facebook.

“The General Command of the Armed Forces is keen to ensure that all participating forces understand the tasks assigned to them to protect the citizens and to address all the threats that can be faced while securing polling stations and centers. The forces have been trained on how to assist citizens and act in response to emergency situations in cooperation with the police forces and security elements in the vicinity of electoral committees,” he continued.

He went on to say that “arrangements have been made to watch and secure the electoral process in all governorates using security surveillance aircraft, aerial photography and direct broadcasting vehicles to convey a vivid picture of the events and immediately report any actions that obstruct the electoral process to the main operations center of the armed forces and the sub-centers in the governorates to take appropriate action”.

He added that preparations have been completed for the forces deployment to help in securing citizens in the vicinity of the centers and polling stations.

The statement said that the armed forces will strengthen security procedures for important and vital state institutions in cooperation with Interior Ministry, and take all necessary measures to secure the Suez Canal waterway, and to address any potential hostilities that may disrupt the electoral process.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm