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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Upon victory, chairman Nafie joins hands with former chairman Ahmed amidst applause from the assembled journalists
Photo Mohamed Mosaad
Nafie sweeps to victory
Shaden ShehabIn heated elections at the Press Syndicate to fill the post of chairman and 12 council seats, Ibrahim Nafie, chairman of the Al-Ahram Organisation's board of directors and chief editor of the daily Al-Ahram, swept to an expected victory on Monday. The council seats went to journalists representing various political trends. Nafie beat five rivals, led by Galal Aref, deputy chief editor of the daily Al-Akhbar and contributor to the weekly newspaper Al-Arabi, mouthpiece of the Nasserist Party. Nafie won 1,958 votes, or 68 per cent of all valid votes, against 881 for Aref or 30.5 per cent of the vote. Other candidates won 1.5 per cent of the vote. Mohamed Sayed Abdel-Alim, a journalist with Al-Siyassi Al-Misri, a weekly newspaper, won 23 votes; Mahmoud El-Sheikh, a journalist with Al-Mussawar weekly magazine, took in 11 votes; Mustafa El-Said, a journalist with the Al-Ahali weekly newspaper, mouthpiece of the leftist Tagammu Party, collected seven votes and Mohamed Gaber El-Sayed, with Radio magazine, won six votes.
Nafie had previously served as syndicate chairman for four terms, in 1985, 1987,1993, and 1995.
As for the council seats, the competition was fierce, with 59 candidates, many of them highly popular, competing for 12 seats. They included pro-government, Nasserist, leftist, pro-Islamist and liberal journalists. Those elected to the council's membership were: Ibrahim Hegazi, chief editor of Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi (1,469 votes), Hamdin Sabahi, director of Al-Said Publishing House and a free-lance journalist (1,329 votes), Mamdouh El-Wali, a journalist with Al-Ahram (1,146 votes); Yehia Qallash, a journalist with Al-Gomhouria and a member of the outgoing council (1,110 votes); Yasser Rizk, a journalist with Al-Akhbar (1,109 votes); Salah Abdel-Maqsoud, a member of the outgoing council and a journalist with Al-Shaab bi-weekly newspaper, mouthpiece of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party (1,102 votes), Osama El-Ghazali Harb, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram's Al-Siyassa Al-Dawlia (International Politics) (1,020 votes); Said Abdel-Khaleq, co-editor-in-chief of Al-Wafd daily newspaper, mouthpiece of the liberal Wafd Party (1,020 votes); Abdel-Aal El-Baqouri, former editor-in-chief of Al-Ahali (1,000 votes), Raga'i Merghani, a journalist with the Middle East News Agency and a member of the outgoing council (991 votes); Magdi Hussein, editor-in-chief of Al-Shaab (909 votes), and Karem Mahmoud, a journalist with Al-Shaab (827 votes).
Upon announcing the results, former Syndicate chairman Makram Mohamed Ahmed, chairman of the Dar Al-Hilal publishing house and chief editor of the weekly magazine Al-Mussawar, offered his congratulations to Nafie. Both men joined hands aloft amidst applause from the assembled journalists who then surrounded Nafie, some shouting his name.
Nafie thanked everyone. "The large number of voters reflect their willingness and awareness of the importance of securing the future of journalism," he said. Out of 3,727 syndicate members, 2,928 cast ballots.
Nafie, who secured a LE70 monthly salary raise for all journalists, added, "I do not make promises that I cannot keep or make rosy statements." What is most important, he said, is that "journalists should be united like at the time of Law 93." Nafie led the journalists' opposition to Law 93 of 1995, which stiffened penalties for publication offences, until it was repealed in 1996 and replaced by a new press law.
"I will focus on strengthening the role of the general assembly, and we [journalists] will deal with any problems through a calm and positive dialogue to reach what we aim for," Nafie said.
During his campaign, Nafie had said he wished for the continuation of the struggle to gain greater freedom and have less restrictions by reforming legislation to make publication offences punishable by a fine only, and not imprisonment. He also believes that it is important to regain the pioneering status of the Egyptian press in the Arab world and internationally. Nafie said this can be achieved by modernising technology at a faster pace and upgrading the qualifications of journalists.
The material gains Nafie wishes to achieve include the construction of a new building for the Press Syndicate that will house contemporary technology and information services. The old building downtown was demolished more than two years ago and the construction of a new building is underway. He also finds it important to protect journalists against financial and moral oppression and to secure better working and living conditions for them.
Elections were conducted according to two laws: the Press Syndicate's Law 76 of 1976 and Law 100 of 1993. Law 100, which provides "democratic guarantees for trade and professional unions," stipulates that the council of a professional union, without specifying the chairman, is elected to a four-year term. The Press Syndicate Law stipulates that the chairman is elected every two years for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
Prior to the last election, held in 1995, a number of journalists delayed the elections by filing a lawsuit with an administrative court in order to obtain a ruling specifying which law should be enforced. The court ruled that Law 100 concerns the council only, while the Press Syndicate Law should be followed for the election of the chairman.
Starting early Monday, hundreds of journalists squeezed their way through the temporary headquarters of their syndicate and stood in long lines to acquire a voting ballot. Candidates who had bedecked the syndicate walls with their posters and pictures continued campaigning until the last minute. They and their representatives bombarded colleagues with leaflets and talk of "vote for him [me] to have a strong council." Some distributed leaflets containing their platforms or promises. Others distributed leaflets that merely carried their names, a last-minute reminder to voters. Still others went to the extent of distributing roses and T-shirts with their printed picture. The leaflets were soon thrown to the ground since many of the voters had made up their minds already. By the end of the day, the floor was carpeted with thousands of leaflets, food remains and empty lunch boxes.
Despite the presence of a large crowd the event went along smoothly, without major problems being reported, at a huge tent erected for the poll.
Voting was to take place between 9am and 5pm, but two more hours were added because some journalists who had failed to pay subscription fees wished to make a last-minute payment in order to be able to vote. There were 20 polling stations at the syndicate and an additional one at the Syndicate's Alexandria branch.
Vote-counting started at about 10pm. Around midnight, the vote-count for the chairman was completed and the vote-count for the council started about an hour later, ending at 7am Tuesday. The results were announced to exhausted and tense journalists, but the supervising judges said that the official results would be announced by Mahfouz Shouman, the head of the judicial committee in charge of supervising the elections. This procedure was adopted for the first time.
Winners and their supporters celebrated and exchanged hugs and kisses. Losers were grim with disappointment, their supporters consoling them with the line, "Perhaps next time."
