 |
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters On the Coptic campaign trail
By Omayma Abdel-LatifCustomers at El-Salam Café on Tousson Street in Shubra, a densely populated working-class district in northern Cairo, are glued to the television news to find out what is going on in the occupied territories. They themselves had made news earlier in the day by pouring onto the streets to partake in their own spontaneous protest. Nothing now, surely, could distract their attention. Or so you would have thought.
A cabinet minister walks into the café and proclaims a series of election promises. The crowd listens intently -- after all, a minister's visit, too, is an extraordinary event, especially if it turns out to be Youssef Boutros Ghali, minister of economy and external trade. Since the beginning of the election campaign, he has been endlessly plodding the streets and alleyways of Shubra in pursuit of votes.
Ghali, the youngest cabinet member, is one of 74 Coptic candidates contesting the parliamentary elections. Although the number is relatively small when viewed against the fact that 444 seats are up for grabs, it nevertheless reflects a growing tendency on the part of Copts to get more involved in the political process. During the 1995 parliamentary elections, there were only 57 Coptic candidates, none of whom were nominated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). This time round, amidst much talk about the need for Copts to become more politically engaged, the NDP has fielded three Coptic candidates, including Ghali himself.
Unsurprisingly, this number has been received by many as disappointing, including judge Tarek El-Bishri. "The NDP cannot possibly claim that it does not nominate Copts because they don't win. That's just a ploy. And to say that the ruling party cannot guarantee the success of any Coptic candidate in spite of state support has only one meaning: discrimination. This falseness has grave implications," El-Bishri told Al-Ahram Weekly.
However, Copts have fared better on the lists of opposition parties. The Wafd, for instance, is fielding 12 Coptic candidates. More surprisingly, the Islamist-oriented (and presently suspended) Labour Party has nine Coptic candidates, all running as independents. The leftist Tagammu meanwhile has nominated four, the Green Party three and Al-Wifak and Al-Takaful two each. There are still more Coptic candidates running as independents.
In previous elections, and in order to make up for the shortage of Copts on the NDP's list of candidates, the president, who has the constitutional right to appoint 10 MPs, includes a number of Copts among them. Many Copts who have remained opposed to this insist that instead they should be allowed to contest the elections fairly and squarely, addressing all Egyptians as potential voters and avoiding sectarian rhetoric. Coptic candidates have during the present campaign addressed crowds at mosques. One Coptic candidate, Esmat Nathan, has even donated LE1 million to restore the Sidi Bishr mosque in Alexandria and Al-Azhar institutes in his constituency. "It is not true that we target the Coptic vote only," Nathan said. "We go to mosques more frequently than churches, seeking voters and supporters."
The election campaigns of Coptic candidates are devoid of sectarian language. And yet leaflets distributed by Coptic candidate Mamdouh Nakhla include what one newspaper called "Coptic discourse" as a way of affirming Coptic identity, but not in any way provocative to Muslims.
The electoral programme of Nakhla, a lawyer and the Tagammu party's candidate in Old Cairo, contains a "Coptic demand" for scrapping an Ottoman decree still in effect that imposes restrictions on the construction and repair of churches. Nakhla explains that "this is not a demand for Copts only, but for all Egyptians." The core of his electoral programme is much more broadly based, focusing as it does on the need to build more schools and youth centres.
The Coptic Orthodox Church is not giving its support to Coptic candidates. "The church is not a political entity whose job it is to assist candidates," a church source told the Weekly. The church's assistance, the same source continued, is confined to "encouraging Copts to shun their political apathy." Pope Shenouda has instructed Coptic candidates not to use slogans with sectarian undertones that may easily be misinterpreted by voters. He also turned down requests by Coptic candidates that he attend their public rallies.
Even for a minister with the calibre of Youssef Boutros Ghali, elections are difficult. Ghali is running on the NDP list in Al-Ma'had Al-Fanni, a working-class neighbourhood in Shubra against independent candidate Medhat Abdel-Hadi. The latter had been excluded from the NDP list and is instead running as an independent. Ghali was accused by rivals of relying on the constituency's Copts, who make up one quarter of its population. But, according to a campaign source, Ghali is trying to convey the message that "he is not the candidate of Copts only, but the NDP candidate for all constituents." He only chose Shubra because "no one wanted to contest elections there." Throughout its electoral history, Shubra has come to be known as "the constituency of Copts" because many Coptic candidates, such as Gamal Asaad Abdel-Malak and Salib Matta Sawiris, have run there.
In Cairo's Abdin and Moski, a commercial district with a Coptic population of 14,000 out of 42,000, Bushra Attallah Asaad is running as an independent against the Liberal party's Ragab Hilal Hemeida. Asaad says that he seeks supporters in mosques and also seeks the church's assistance. Asaad, in an attempt to draw on anger against Israel, has stressed in his public rallies that Copts will not go to Jerusalem except with their Muslim brethren. "We are going to see a free Jerusalem. And one day we will make the pilgrimage to the Holy City under the Palestinian flag," Asaad told supporters. His position is in line with Pope Shenouda's firm stand on the this issue.
In some constituencies, there is more than one Coptic candidate competing for the same seat. In Shubra, Karam Eissa, who had contested elections previously, is pitted against lawyer Rufa'el Boulos and Abdel-Messih Fouad Suleiman for the fi'at (professionals) seat.
Medhat Shehata, the NDP candidate in the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira, admits that he did not get any support from the NDP. "I believe I was chosen because of my qualifications and not because of my sectarian affiliation," he says. Shehata visited four monasteries to raise support but later found out that monks do not vote. He is also financing the tuition of students who cannot pay the required fees.
Businessman Esmat Nathan is running on behalf of the NDP in the fiercely contested election in the Ghorbal constituency of Alexandria. Forty-year-old Nathan is running against another businessman, independent Ahmed Abdel-Fattah, and former NDP member El-Sayed Mounir (who was excluded from the NDP list and had to run as an independent).
The most prominent Coptic Wafd party candidate is businessman Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, who is running in Cairo's Al-Wayli district. He is facing strong competition from the NDP's Ahmed Fouad Abdel-Aziz, who defeated him in the 1995 parliamentary elections. At the age of 77, Abdel-Aziz is a veteran parliamentarian and has been head of the education committee of the People's Assembly since 1968.
Abdel-Nour believes he will fare better this time round. "I am positive that Muslims will support me more than Copts in this constituency," he proclaimed.
Related stories:
Parliament with a difference? 31 August - 6 September 2000
See Elections 2000
