 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A few good men
By Gamal Essam El-DinFor the second time in two weeks, the Supreme Constitutional Court has handed down a ruling that rendered unconstitutional the outgoing People's Assembly. The court singled out on Sunday the last two paragraphs of the second article of Law 38 for 1972 regulating the performance of the People's Assembly. The two paragraphs provide that members of parliament classified as fi'at (professionals) or workers and farmers before 15 May 1971 cannot subsequently change their designations. The designations are important because one half of parliament's seats are reserved for workers and farmers.
The inability of MPs to change their designations has been judged unconstitutional because it violates article 87, which states that citizens have equal rights and duties. "In fact, the two paragraphs deny MPs the right of altering their designations as workers and farmers or fi'at despite the rapidly changing political and economic conditions in society," said the court.
Unlike the 8 July historic decision that the judiciary should oversee all stages of parliamentary elections, the latest ruling only had minor impact. This is because the People's Assembly acted in April to fill this constitutional gap by amending Law 38 for 1972 to be in line with the ruling expected from the court.
Yet, the Assembly did not go so far as to revise the definitions of "worker," "farmer" and "fi'at."
According to Ibrahim El-Nimiki, deputy chairman of the Assembly's Legislative and Constitutional Committee, the 1972 law was amended merely to fill this constitutional gap. "But the action should have been accompanied by a revision of the definitions of 'worker,' 'farmer' and 'fi'at.' Failure to do so means that every candidate is now free to run for election under the designation of his choice. Some of those who contested previous elections as 'fi'at' now intend to run for the next parliament as 'workers' and vice versa," said El-Nimiki. This, he added, may create a chaotic situation because it paves the way for rival candidates to legally challenge the candidacy of each other on the grounds that opponents do not fit the designations for which they opted.
In full agreement, several legal experts argue that as a result of the Supreme Constitutional Court's two rulings, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) will be confronted with a major challenge in advance of the November elections.
Analysts believe the NDP is required to come up with an exclusive list of honest candidates who are popular enough to win parliamentary seats. According to independent MP Ahmed Taha, the court's ruling that only judges should supervise auxiliary polling stations, in addition to the main stations, will make it difficult for many NDP candidates to win as easily as they used to in the past. He claimed that many deputies previously depended on security forces and the intervention of provincial governors to guarantee success in elections, but they will now have to abandon these tactics. "The party has to replace them with candidates who depend on popularity and honourable behaviour to pass the test of full judicial supervision," said Taha. He also argued that since the definitions of "worker" and "farmer" were left unchanged, the nominations of many NDP candidates running under those designations in the next elections can be legally challenged easily.
Rejecting these charges, Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, affirmed that none of the NDP candidates ever used illegal ways to succeed in elections. Referring to four NDP MPs known as the "loan deputies," who were convicted last month by the Supreme State Security Court of misappropriating bank funds worth more than LE1 billion, El-Shazli insisted that they were not on the party's list of candidates for the 1995 elections.
El-Shazli told Mayo newspaper, mouthpiece of the NDP, that at least 45 per cent of names on the party's list of candidates in the upcoming elections will be new. "All candidates in certain governorates will be new," El-Shazli said. He added that "following the ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court on 8 July, the party's leadership will take the utmost care in selecting the candidates for the next elections."
Informed sources said that during the last four weeks, between 3,800 and 4,000 NDP members submitted requests to run on the party's ticket in the next elections -- an average of 150 per governorate. The highest number of requests came from the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya: 180.
The sources said that at least 50 NDP members of the outgoing Assembly will be on the party's list of candidates. They include 14 in Cairo and Giza, the most prominent of whom are Zakariya Azmi, chief of the presidential staff and deputy for Zeitoun; Hussein Megawer, deputy for Maadi and chairman of Cairo's NDP office; Hamdi El-Sayed, deputy for Heliopolis and head of the Doctors' Syndicate; and Amal Osman, a deputy for Giza's Dokki district and deputy speaker of the Assembly.
In Alexandria, four NDP members of the outgoing Assembly are certain to be nominated. They include El-Sayed Rashed, deputy for Sidi Gaber and chairman of the Workers' Union; Talaat Mustafa, also deputy for Sidi Gaber; Ahmed Khairi, deputy for Attareen and head of NDP's office in Alexandria, and Mohamed Abdella, deputy for Al-Montazah and head of the Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee.
Chairmen of the Assembly's 18 committees are also certain to be included on the party's nomination list. Foremost among them are Amin Mubarak and Abdallah Tayel in Menoufiya governorate, Sherif Omar and Salah El-Tarouti in Sharqiya governorate and Abu- Bakr El-Basel, Abdel-Rahim El-Ghoul and Mohamed Ali Hassan in Upper Egypt governorates.
At least five chairmen of NDP provincial offices will also figure on the list. They include Ahmed Abu Zeid in Ismailia, Salah Shaladim in Suez and Tarek El-Guindi in Sharqiya.
At least four former cabinet ministers will be excluded. They are Mohamed Ali Mahgoub, former minister of al-awqaf (religious endowments), Ahmed Gweili, former minister of supply, Suleiman Metwalli, former minister of transport, and Mahmoud El-Sherif, former minister of local administration. But Mustafa El-Said, a former minister of economy, is expected to run for the NDP in Derb Negm in Sharqiya governorate.
Some incumbent cabinet ministers have submitted nomination requests to the NDP. These include Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman, minister of housing, in Cairo's district of Gamaliya; Moufid Shehab, minister of higher education, in Alexandria's Moharram Bey; and two Coptic ministers: Economy Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali in Cairo's Shubra district and Environment Affairs Minister Nadia Makram Ebeid in Upper Egypt's governorate of Qena. To these should be added Kamal El-Shazli in El-Bagour in Menoufiya governorate and Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali in Ibshiwai, Fayoum governorate.
It has been tentatively decided that the next elections will be spaced over two 10-day stages, said El-Shazli. Moreover, the number of auxiliary polling stations (41,852) will be reduced to 14,000 to make it easier for the judiciary to supervise them, he added. The first stage will include the governorates of Upper Egypt and some Nile Delta governorates. The second stage will include Greater Cairo's three governorates -- Cairo, Giza and Qalyubiya -- and the remaining Delta governorates.
Related stories:
A new page is turned 20 - 26 July 2000
Missing the point 20 - 26 July 2000
A power above all 20 - 26 July 2000
The road to reform 20 - 26 July 2000
Off the books 20 - 26 July 2000
Making history at the Supreme Court 13 - 19 July 2000
