Third Field Army :: NET2 News

The ruling military council approved a plan to secure the upcoming presidential elections, a military source said.

The source said that 95 percent of the security forces securing the elections, scheduled to take plan on 23 and 24 May, would be military personnel. The leaders of the military units have already inspected the polling stations and the units have been given specific guidelines for dealing with unrest, the source added.

He stressed that any acts of thuggery or rioting would be firmly dealt with in order to protect the voting process.

"The Second Field Army will secure six governorates: Ismailia, Port Said, Daqahlia, Sharqiya, Damietta and North Sinai. The Third Field Army will secure the polling stations in the governorates of Suez and South Sinai, while the naval forces will secure polling stations in Alexandria, Beheira and Kafr al-Sheikh," the source said.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council, met with military Chief of Staff Sami Anan and Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri on Thursday to discuss the final preparations for the presidential election.

The ministers of interior, foreign affairs, planning and international cooperation and justice also attended the meeting.

Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said that as of Thursday morning, over 224,000 Egyptian expatriates cast their votes in the presidential election. He said that each foreign embassy would announce results separately as each of them represents a different district. Expatriate voting ended on Thursday.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, presidential election, Third Field Army, military personnel, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, said Saturday that the armed forces will hand over power to an elected civilian president and guarantee the drafting of a constitution that pleases all Egyptians.

On the sidelines of the maneuver "Badr 2" by one of the formations of the Third Field Army on Saturday, Tantawi said "The armed forces are well, and they are the backbone of Egypt. The days and history will prove that and demonstrate to all the efforts exerted by the armed forces in the present stage."

He added: "We all work together for the sake of Egypt, which has not yielded to anyone or to a particular group, but will be for all Egyptians, according to the popular will."

He said the armed forces will continue to cooperate with other countries to develop its equipment, adding: "We will not antagonize states and will not allow the antagonizing of any state just for the sake of enmity, but will confront only those who antagonize us."

"We are working to update our equipment in all areas, and we have a diversity of sources of arms from the east and west," he announced, saying that the armed forces is currently working on the development of the air defense system and the development of naval forces in cooperation with Germany.

He said: "We are cooperating with other countries for the benefit of Egypt, without interference on their part in our will and our policy."

Tantawi said the armed forces are aiming to match the highest technology levels, and that Egypt has many companies and engineers capable of the work.

Tags: Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Third Field Army, Supreme Council of Armed Forces, civilian president, the armed forces

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