Campus campaigns

By Shaden Shehab

In front of "Islam is the solution", students stage a short play to protest the disqualification of hundreds of candidates (photo: Amr Gamal)

Elections to fill 6,000 student union council seats in the universities were held on Monday and Tuesday. The battle pitted the Islamists against the pro-government "moderates."

In several statements to the press before the elections, Higher Education Minister Moufid Shehab said that he impressed on the presidents of all universities the necessity of giving equal opportunity to all candidates, adding the elections should be held in a democratic atmosphere. Applications for candidates were received on 1 and 2 November. But there were preconditions. In order to be eligible to run, a student must have been involved in extra-curricular activities, must never have failed an examination and never referred for an investigation.

In statements similar to Shehab's, Cairo University President Farouk Ismail affirmed the integrity of the elections, declaring that "we encourage students to nominate themselves so that they will take part in other elections, such as parliamentary elections, after graduation."

However, hundreds of candidates were either disqualified or investigated, making them ineligible to run. At Cairo University's Faculty of Science, only 15 out of 136 students were eligible candidates. In other faculties, all candidates were either disqualified or referred to investigation.

Officials said those who were disqualified did not meet the necessary criteria because they were not involved in extra-curricular campus activities or were questioned for taking part in on-campus demonstrations, which are forbidden.

On the first day of the elections at Cairo University, dozens of Islamist students stood outside their faculties, where their candidates had been struck off the candidate lists, holding up posters and shouting the motto of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood: "Islam is the solution." Others staged a short play, using a megaphone to ridicule the university's management. Dozens of students watched and laughed, while others passed them by, showing no interest.

"I am not voting because there is no one to vote for; all the candidates for my academic year have been disqualified," said Shaimaa Ali, a freshman at the Faculty of Science. Several other students interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly expressed similar sentiments. "Elections? What elections? There are no elections," said Samah Abdel-Halim, another freshman at the Faculty of Commerce. "We were not informed that there were elections," Dina Abdel-Fattah, a Faculty of Arts student, said.

"What would happen if the Islamists won? It's not as if they are terrorists. They help us a great deal with any problem we have," said Yasser Saleh, a student at the Faculty of Science.

As in past years, hundreds of disqualified candidates took legal action against the university management. Courts hand down their verdicts within 24 to 48 hours. If the decision is in the disqualified candidate's favour, another round of elections must be held.

The university management has respected the courts' decisions in the past and vows to do the same this year.

If the required quorum of voters is not reached at any given faculty, management is legally empowered to appoint students to fill the council seats.

Final results will be announced on 15 November.