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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Affirmative inaction
Approximately 80 per cent of the 4,250 candidates competing for 444 seats in the parliamentary elections do not belong to any of the country's 15 political parties. This fact underlines, among other things, how poorly these entities have faired since the multiparty experience was launched in the late 1970s. Political parties are still unable to build strong constituencies, and the majority of Egyptians continue to vote on the basis of either family and tribal ties, or the services that wealthy candidates can offer them. It seems quite clear that these parties will have to make strenuous efforts if they are to fulfil their role -- which is, in theory, to represent the people's various political views and aspirations.The country's political parties have also failed to nominate a significant number of women as candidates, notwithstanding their earlier pledges that they would seek fair representation for women.
According to official figures, women make up around 35 per cent of the country's 22 million voters, and nearly 50 per cent of its 65 million citizens. In recent elections, however, not more than four or five women were voted into office. The rest of the handful of women in parliament were appointed by the president among the 10 members he is constitutionally entitled to pick.
The ruling National Democratic Party nominated only 11 women on a list of 444 candidates, while the "liberal" Wafd, the largest of the 14 opposition groupings, had eight women out of 272 candidates. The Tagammu Party named four women out of 52 candidates, while the Nasserist Party did not bother with women on its list at all. Party spokespeople argue that they only name candidates who stand a chance of winning. But they intentionally ignore the fact that they do not bother to assist women in rising through male-dominated ranks in the first place. The financial and political support parties provide to women candidates is usually very limited, with the surprising result that these candidates usually fail.
Egypt's political parties could have taken the lead in fulfilling public demand for more women candidates in the first People's Assembly elections of the 21st century. They failed to do so. Perhaps that is one reason why most candidates chose to run as independents.
