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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 May 2000 Issue No. 482 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 May 2000 Issue No. 482
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Heritage Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Ensuring a fair poll
By Omayma Abdel-LatifJudges, whose supervision over parliamentary elections was expanded by recent legislation, are determined to do to their utmost to ensure that the coming November poll will be as fair and free as possible, Muqbel Shaker, the head of the Judges Club, told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Judges Club acts in lieu of a judges' syndicate, promoting the professional interests and concerns of its members.
Shaker called upon all political forces contesting the elections to respect the law, reach a consensus formula for fair and free elections and refrain from the vote-rigging tactics they used in the past.
Stressing that "Judges should stay away from politics because this is the only way they can be trusted by all political forces," Shaker rejected opposition newspaper claims that the judiciary would be made a scapegoat for election-rigging.
Shaker underlined that it was President Hosni Mubarak who repeatedly stressed the need for expanding judicial supervision over elections to include, in addition to the principal polling stations, as many auxiliary stations as possible. Shaker did not rule out the possibility of election-rigging despite judicial supervision, but he affirmed that judges will make every effort to monitor vote-rigging tactics. It is beyond the capability of judicial authorities, however, to document every case of election-rigging, he said. The overall judicial supervision is bound to reduce the number of rigging incidents, but it does not guarantee that the practice will disappear altogether, he said.
"The judicial supervisor is not the only one who should be in charge of monitoring the electoral process, for this is a three-fold process that includes voters, candidates and the judicial authorities," Shaker said. "Voters have to make sure that the elections are going to be fair and free and that their voices will be heard; it is a collective will, the will of the executive authority to conduct fair elections, as well as the will of the voters who will not accept that their voices being falsified."
Shaker said that in the last elections, held in 1995, the rigging was done by candidates or their supporters. The state did not intervene, Shaker said, and thuggery and hooliganism were practiced by almost all political forces.
Shaker said the number of available judges cannot possibly cover all polling stations nationwide. Also, if the elections took place over several days, it would take no less than two months for results to come out. "We cannot put the judiciary's work on hold for this long period or even for a shorter period. Elections should last only one day," he said.
Shaker did not reject the idea that elections can take place in stages, but said it would be very difficult to implement this in a country as heavily centralised as Egypt. Opposition forces have accused the government of using judicial supervision as a ploy and demanded additional guarantees for fair elections, including the use of glass ballot boxes. They also demanded that judges should be made responsible for outlining the eligibility requirements for parliament members.
In response, Shaker said that meeting some of these demands was the prerogative of the executive authority, insisting that vote-rigging could be stopped if all concerned parties abided by the law. "The law contains adequate guarantees for fair elections. It is a matter of all sides -- the government, the opposition and the voters -- respecting the law," Shaker argued.
Shaker also discussed the issue of putting the Judges Club under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs, in line with a new NGO law. This has triggered heated debate within the ranks of judges. Some opposition newspapers claim that the issue brought to the fore the hidden and unresolved tension between the judicial and executive authorities. The newspapers also alleged that these differences raised doubts about the independence of the judiciary.
But Shaker insisted that judges are fully independent of the executive authority. "We are looking for the best possible formula to maintain and increase this independence, but this does not mean, in any way, that the independence of the judicial authorities is in question," Shaker said
A new law stipulating that the Judges Club, founded in 1939, should be affiliated to the Supreme Judicial Council is in the making, which would guarantee greater independence from any governmental body. Until this law is passed, the club will function in line with the new NGO law.
Also, the judicial authority law will be modified to guarantee a separate budget for the judiciary from that of the Ministry of Justice and to grant the Supreme Judicial Council full responsibility for all matters judicial.
Many view these changes as promoting judicial independence but, more importantly, also fostering movement towards a more democratic order.
