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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Running against time
By Gamal Essam El-DinKamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, announced this week that the first of three phases of parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for November, will be held in the second half of October. With the holy month of Ramadan predicted to begin around 27 November, the original schedule for elections would have seen the third phase taking place while the majority of voters are observing a sunrise-to-sunset fast. The government wants to avoid this, officials said.
After a new law was passed in July placing the entire election process under the supervision of the judiciary, President Hosni Mubarak decided that polling would be spread over three stages. This decision came in response to the assessment that the number of available judges is insufficient for all principal and auxiliary polling stations nationwide to be supervised in a single day of polling.
El-Shazli said that President Mubarak's order forced the ministries of the interior and justice to bring forward the start date of the elections from the second week of November to the second week of October.
Informed sources at the People's Assembly told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Interior Ministry is in the process of preparing a detailed plan for organising elections. "The plan, which will be brought to President Mubarak's attention, will outline in precise terms how the elections will be held in three stages and the exact number of judges required in each stage to fully supervise auxiliary and main polling stations," a source said.
The plan will also define in clear-cut terms the responsibilities of judges and security officers and the ideal form of coordination between them, the source added. The plan will explain in detail the measures which will be taken by the Interior Ministry in the coming few weeks for removing the names of the dead and emigrants from the lists of voters. It will also determine how the number of auxiliary polling stations will be reduced to allow for full judicial supervision without causing confusion among voters, the source explained.
File photo of a session of the outgoing assembly
To facilitate the split of elections into three stages, the Interior Ministry has decided to divide Egypt into three geographical zones. The first is made up of 11 governorates -- the southern governorates of Minya, Beni Suef, Fayyoum, Assiut, Sohag, Qena and Aswan in addition to the governorates of Southern and Northern Sinai, the New Valley and Red Sea. The second zone consists of 12 governorates, namely, the Nile Delta governorates of Menoufiya, Gharbiya, Beheira, Sharqiya, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Daqahliya and Damietta plus Alexandria, Marsa Matrouh, Ismailia, Port Said and Suez. The remaining zone comprises the three governorates of the Greater Cairo area -- Cairo, Giza and Qalioubiya.
Ahmed Abu Zeid, parliamentary spokesman of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), noted that there is little time for preparation before the start of Ramadan. "I do not know how the ministries of the interior and justice will be able to coordinate in this very short time," he told the Weekly. "First, they will have to make sure that the number of supervising judges is enough in each of the three stages. Second, they need to ensure that the three stages can be completed prior to Ramadan. This is necessary because it will be hard, if not impossible, for citizens to go to the polls while fasting."
The general-secretariat of the NDP is also in a race against time to come up with a list of good candidates. At a secretariat meeting on 16 August, El-Shazli said that the official list of NDP candidates will be announced next week or at the beginning of September. El-Shazli added that the list will be reviewed by President Mubarak in the next few days.
Informed NDP sources told the Weekly that four cabinet ministers will stand for election. They are Minister of Housing Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman, running in the Cairo district of Gamaliya; Minister of Economy Youssef Boutros Ghali, running in northern Cairo's district of Shubra; Minister of State for Military Production Sayed Mashaal, running in Cairo's southern suburb of Helwan and Minister of Irrigation Mahmoud Abu Zeid, running in Nahtai district, located in Gharbiya governorate.
Three former ministers are also expected to round out the NDP list. Mohamed Mahgoub, will compete for the Helwan seat, while Maher Abaza and Mustafa El-Said are running in districts in Sharqiya governorate.
Business tycoon Ahmed Ezz will be the NDP candidate in Menouf, Menoufiya governorate. Ezz, who is involved in steel and ceramic production and foreign trade activities, is chairman of the NDP office in the industrial El-Sadat City which is administratively part of the Menoufiya governorate.
As for women candidates, it is now certain that at least four will be on the NDP list. They are Amal Osman (Doqqi, Giza), Fayda Kamel (Al-Khalifa, Cairo), Thoraya Labna (Nasr City, Cairo) and Galila Awad (Sinai). Sawsan El-Kilani, NDP deputy for Ismailia in the outgoing People's Assembly, will not be renominated.
Related stories:
In the judges' court 17 - 23 August 2000
Who's to judge 10 - 16 August 2000
Just ballots 10 - 16 August 2000
See also: The 1995 elections
