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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Focus Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A new chart for the Bar?
By Mona El-NahhasIn a statement issued on Saturday, two weeks before Bar Association elections, several lawyers of various political affiliations condemned an alleged under-the-table deal between the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate for the association's leading post and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
According to Bar Association sources, the Brotherhood will back Raga'i Attiya for chairman in return for a promise of more than half of the 24 seats in the association's council. The Islamists' list of candidates featured eight lawyers, all belonging to the Brotherhood. However, sources say that other Brotherhood lawyers, who will reveal their affiliation only at the last moment, are also contesting the elections.
In the statement slamming the deal, lawyers said they aspired for a syndicate that would be all-embracing, non-sectarian, democratic and independent. The statement vowed that lawyers will stand firmly against any attempt at rigging the elections. It also blamed the government for all the crises faced by the syndicate, the last of which was the judicial sequestration imposed upon the Bar Association in 1996. Leftist lawyer Nabil El-Hilali urged lawyers to "defend the independence and freedom of their syndicate," noting that the "battle" will not be easy.
Wafdist lawyer Ahmed Nasser, who is running for syndicate chairman, predicted wide-scale rigging of the poll, especially after the judicial committee in charge decided to have polling stations at social clubs and youth centres, "where lawyers cannot protect the ballot boxes." According to the law regulating the legal profession, Bar Association elections should take place at the headquarters of the General Syndicate and its branch chapters.
Tension is building in the countdown to next month's hotly contested Bar Association elections
Nasser contested the decision of the judicial committee before the Administrative Court, which set hearings for today. He warned of government interference in the elections after Attiya won many "promises" that he would be the association's next chairman.
Sameh Ashour, another candidate for the syndicate's chairmanship, said lawyers are now convinced it was better for their syndicate to represent a diversity of political trends instead of being dominated by one political group -- in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Elections will take place on 1 July at around 250 polling stations across Egypt. Twelve candidates are running for syndicate chairman. The battle for membership of the syndicate's council will be equally heated because of the large number -- 218 -- of competing candidates. A committee in charge of examining nomination requests had earlier disqualified 48 candidates. The most prominent candidates include Hamed El-Azhari, Galal Ragab, Ahmed Seif El-Islam, Said El-Far, Ahmed Goma'a and Montasser El-Zayyat.
Tuesday was the deadline for contesting nominations with the judicial committee in charge. Voting cards have been printed and will be distributed to more than 80,000 lawyers.
