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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 Fairly undemocratic
By Salah Eissa *
The 2000 elections could be a step toward democratic reform in Egypt, but only if the government fulfils its promise and protects the elections against bureaucratic intervention. Among other things, this entails both the police and the local councils adopting a position of active, rather than passive, disinterest. This means enforcing the law against any attempt to manipulate the elections. Judicial supervision, too, must be fully implemented at every stage of the electoral process.
Fair elections do not necessarily mean democracy. In Nasser's time, most elections were fair, but only because he prevented dissidents from being nominated, so that only his allies could compete. With Sadat and the emergence of opposition parties, the government discovered the weakness of the ruling party and its inability to compete, and was forced to intervene to secure a majority.
The problem with the 2000 elections is that they will be undertaken in a semi-Nasserist way, since the more radical parties (Labour and the Muslim Brotherhood) have been prevented from participating. Of the 15 parties that exist, only three are really competing against the one in power (the Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserists), and they stand few chances; in fact, they failed to find nominees for all the constituencies. The independent candidates are therefore the main competitors. They do not represent any particular orientation, and most of them are members of the ruling party who were rejected as nominees.
In order for an election to be democratic, competition must take place between parties representing not themselves, but political orientations that exist in society. It is possible that the 2000 elections will be fair; it is hardly certain, however, that they will be democratic.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is editor-in-chief of Al-Qahira.
