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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Scepticism at the Bar
By Mona El-NahhasMany lawyers are frustrated because the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has thrown its weight behind the candidacy of Raga'i Attiya as Bar Association chairman and nominated 14 other lawyers, all members of the NDP, to compete for the 24 seats of the association's council in future elections.
A judicial committee, charged with running the lawyers' syndicate after the three-year-old sequestration was lifted by a Cassation Court ruling, has yet to take any steps towards organising elections. The committee's legal mandate to organise elections ends in mid-April, but, to date, the committee has neither prepared the lists of voters' nor fixed a starting date for nominations. Some lawyers claim the committee will not act unless the government guarantees that the elections' results will be in its favour.
"The government knows quite well that the Bar Association elections cannot be rigged. Consequently, it will not allow the elections to take place soon," said Wafdist lawyer Ahmed Nasser, who is a candidate for the post of council chairman. "Why do you sit here and argue? Go home and relax. There will be no elections," Nasser told lawyers at the headquarters of the Bar Association last week. They had assembled there in order to declare their opposition to the NDP's interference in the affairs of their syndicate.
In response, Attiya told Al-Ahram Weekly that the NDP, like any other party, has the right to back certain candidates. He asserted that the NDP did not nominate him. "It just supported my nomination," Attiya said, insisting that he is not the government's candidate.
According to Attiya, his popularity has not been affected since "lawyers are dead sure that I work for the interest of their syndicate. Those who wage a war against me are a small minority, who have certain electoral considerations in mind. They carry no weight because their aims are well-known," he said.
Nasser, who initially kept aloof from the issue of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has begun to show sympathy for them in an apparent bid to win their support. It is being said that the Brothers, on their part, will reconsider an alliance with Raga'i Attiya, after a previous deal they made with him ended in failure.
Under this deal, the Muslim Brotherhood had expressed readiness to support Attiya in return for five or six seats on the syndicate's council. However, following the arrest of 20 of their leading members, who are now facing charges in a military trial of seeking to infiltrate syndicates, the Brothers' position on Attiya has changed, although he headed the defence team in the trial. Now they are planning to contest the coming elections -- if they are held -- competing for about 12 seats.
Islamist lawyer Fatma Rabie told the Weekly that lawyers require a guarantee that elections will be fair and will reflect the true will of the majority. Rabie added that the NDP has no significant following inside the association.
"We do not want elections which will be a copy of parliamentary elections. Otherwise, it would be better not to organise elections at all," said leftist lawyer Mohamed El-Damati. He argued that efforts should not be focused on the post of chairman but on electing a powerful council which would represent the different political trends.
