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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Just ballots
By Gamal Essam El-DinIt is business as usual in Cairo and other major cities. Traffic jams, heat, pollution. The banners, pictures, streamers and posters that are the hallmark of approaching parliamentary elections have not yet sprouted to cover every available surface. But the countdown to the November ballot has begun.
And for the first time elections will be held under the full supervision of the judiciary, spaced over three stages rather than being staged nationwide on a single day.
The new legislation, approved by the People's Assembly last month, is intended to ensure the integrity of the ballot. By placing the elections under judicial supervision, the possibility of vote-rigging should be minimised. And since the number of judges is too small to man all main and auxiliary polling stations at the same time, the ballot will be divided into three stages.
The cost, if not exorbitant, will be heavy. According to Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, the bill for staging the elections is likely to reach LE80 million. The three-phase elections are likely to consume at least three weeks in November, if not the entire month.
The cue that the countdown had begun came when President Hosni Mubarak chaired two meetings of top aides in Alexandria on Sunday and Monday to review preparations for the elections.
Ahmed Abu Zeid, leader of the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) parliamentary bloc in the outgoing assembly, explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that "in accordance with the ruling handed down by the Supreme Constitutional Court on 8 July, general elections, for the first time in Egypt's 134-old parliamentary history, will be held in stages. It is natural, therefore, that President Mubarak wants to make sure as early as possible that this new experience will go smoothly and that full judicial supervision will be really secured to ensure that integrity will be the hallmark of the next elections," Abu Zeid said.
At the Alexandria meetings President Mubarak issued instructions that the next elections be held in three stages. "This, I guess, will take at least three weeks in November. It could even be extended to the start of Ramadan [beginning around 27 November]," said Abu Zeid.
The number of auxiliary polling stations will be reduced from 42,000 to 14,000 to be monitored by some 7,000 judges.
The available figures show that between 3,500 and 4,000 hopefuls are vying to be included on the NDP's list of candidates.
At Monday's meeting, President Mubarak ordered that NDP members of the consultative Shura Council, including cabinet ministers, be excluded from the NDP list of candidates. "This means that as many as 105 NDP Shura Council members, who have already applied for inclusion on the party's candidacy list will be excluded," Abu Zeid said.
In the meantime, informed NDP sources told the Weekly that the party's list of 444 candidates (compared to 439 in 1995) will include at least seven cabinet ministers, compared to nine in 1995. It will also include four former ministers, 20 prominent businessmen, 15 women (compared to seven in 1995) and 15 Copts (compared to none in 1995). NDP sources added that around 50 per cent of the party's candidates (compared to 35 per cent in 1995) will be new faces. This means that at least 90 NDP members of the outgoing assembly will be turned down. They are expected to run as independents.
Opposition parties are also making preparations.
At the Wafd Party the number of hopeful candidates has reached almost 50. "This is, however, a provisional figure because we aim to field candidates in all of Egypt's 26 governorates," said Yassin Serageddin, leader of the Wafdist bloc in the outgoing assembly. A preliminary list of 30 Wafdist candidates will be fielded in Cairo alone. Topping this list are Ayman Nour in Bab Al-Sha'riya district, Coptic businessman Mounir Abdel-Nour in Al-Wayli, and Taha El-Sherif in Heliopolis. In the 1995 elections the Wafd fielded 175 candidates but only six won seats.
At the two main leftist parties, Tagammu and Nasserist, 60 and 50 hopefuls respectively have so far submitted nomination requests. The Tagammu's Secretary-General Rifaat El-Said said that the party will be able to win at least 13 seats in the coming elections, compared to five in 1995. A new name on the Tagammu's list is Al-Ahram journalist Amina Shafiq, who will have to face two strong rivals: the Wafd's Yassin Serageddin and businessman Hossam Badrawi.
Whether the Islamist-oriented Labour Party will be able to contest the elections will become clear later this month or early next month when the Supreme Administrative Court hands down a final ruling on the party's future. The Court will decide whether the party should be dissolved or not, while the prosecutor-general, who is investigating a number of criminal and financial malpractices allegedly committed by party leaders, will decide if they should face trial. The party's activities have been frozen already, and its newspaper shut down, by the Political Parties Committee, a government-controlled body that oversees political party activities.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is facing an uphill battle to gain a foothold in the next parliament. A recent police clampdown on the group may deny it the opportunity of forging a strategy for the next elections. Brotherhood sources said members will run individually, and not as a group sharing a common strategy.
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