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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Competition and apathy
Hundreds of thousands of voters cast ballots yesterday at 5,137 polling stations in the first stage of parliamentary elections, organised for the first time under full judicial supervision. A total of 1,262 candidates competed for 150 seats representing 75 constituencies in nine governorates -- Alexandria, Beheira, Menoufiya, Suez, Port Said, Ismailia, Fayoum, Sohag and Qena. Run-off elections will be held on 24 October.The second and third stages of the elections will start on 29 October and end on 14 November.
Interior Ministry officials said the balloting went smoothly, with the light morning turnout of voters picking up later in the day. Officials also stated that there were no reports of violations.
While reporters on the scene concurred, saying that the supervising judges made sure the balloting was marked by order and integrity, outside the polling stations, where the judges have no jurisdiction, some irregularities were reported. In particular, the six candidates of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, running as independents in Alexandria, complained of harassment.
The six include Jihan El-Halafawi, the first woman ever to run for the Brotherhood. She had won a court ruling on Tuesday declaring the elections in her constituency of Al-Raml as illegal and ordering their postponement. But the government, using a legal technicality, went ahead with the poll anyway.
"The court based its verdict on the fact that the situation in Al-Raml district was against both El-Halafawi and Sayed Ahmed," a Brotherhood candidate running for the workers' seat, said their lawyer Hassan Sobhi.
The court order followed the arrest of the 17 proxies of the two Brotherhood candidates on 15 October, the day they registered their names for the electoral mission. The two are running against candidates of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
El-Halafawi's husband, Ibrahim El-Zaafarani, a leading Brotherhood figure and assistant secretary-general of the Alexandria chapter of the Doctors' Syndicate, was arrested two weeks ago. According to the outlawed group more than 80 supporters have been arrested in Alexandria so far.
Ali Abdel-Fattah, a Brotherhood candidate running in the district of Sidi Gaber, told the Weekly that although the elections were fair inside the polling, the "vicious" competition outside made it impossible for him and for other Islamist candidates to campaign or even to get their supporters to vote for them. He complained that his posters were torn from every wall and lamp-post.
In the Alexandria district of Bab Sharq, the chances of NDP candidate Mariam Mustafa, an Alexandria University professor, appeared meagre against Adel Eid, an Islamist-oriented lawyer.
And in the Attarin district, NDP candidate Widad Shalabi faced harsh competition from the Wafd's Omar Barakat, both running for the workers' seat. The same seat is contested by two Nasserists, Kamal Ahmed and Abdel-Moneim Ismail. The outcome of the battle will be probably decided in the run-off round.
In the district of Ghorbal the NDP's Esmat Nathan, a Coptic businessman, ran against the Wafd's Ahmed Hamed, a journalist. Nathan is popular with the many workers of his public contracting companies.
In Alexandria, run-off elections are expected in eight districts out of 11.
In the town of Bagour in the Menoufiya governorate, Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, appeared poised for victory. El-Shazli, a member of parliament since 1964, had taken the election battle against seven other candidates very seriously, organising 40 rallies during the past two weeks.
In nearby Menouf, the competition was fierce, with business tycoon Ahmed Ezz running on the NDP list against independent Ibrahim Kamel, a businessman and Mohamed Kamel's brother.
In Port Said, 43 candidates competed for six seats. In the constituency of Port Fouad, veteran parliamentarian El-Badri Farghali, the candidate of the leftist Tagammu Party, appeared almost certain of victory after beating off the challenge from NDP rival Abu Bakr El-Siddiq. The classification of the latter, a businessman, was changed from worker to professional as a result of an appeal filed by Farghali with a judicial committee. Farghali, a candidate for the workers' seat, faced Seifeddin Mahmoud of the Wafd Party. Farghali told the Weekly that he expected to win more than 95 per cent of votes.
In the constituency of Al-Manakh another NDP businessman, Abdel-Wahab Qouta, ran against Wafidst journalist Mohamed Sherdi for the professionals' seat.
In the Ibshiway district of Fayoum, Youssef Wali, deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture, was certain of winning unopposed. Children, riding in trucks, shouted slogans praising him, and street banners urged voters to support him. Many said they are convinced that he is the man for them because of the many public services he introduced to the district.
Despite the fierce competition in some districts, some voters remained apathetic. "I never voted in the past and will never vote because we know the results in advance," said Farahat Tantawi, a 35-year-old mini-bus driver in Alexandria.
Another taxi-driver said that no one is interested in the elections because "the powerful get their way anyway."
Amira Howeidy, Khaled Dawoud, Gamal Essam El-Din, Mona El-Nahhas, Jailan Halawi and Soha Abdel-Aty
Related stories:
It begins
Defining full supervision 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000
See Elections 2000
