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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Tougher times for the NDP
By Gamal Essam El-DinIn Tuesday's run-off round of the first stage of parliamentary elections, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) suffered an unprecedented setback, but its spokesmen said this would not affect the party's majority in the next People's Assembly. The spokesmen said the results proved that full judicial supervision over the ballot ensured its integrity. Still, in contrast to the first round of 18 October, which went smoothly, the run-off round was marred by outbreaks of sporadic violence that killed one person and wounded about 60.
Overall in the first stage, the NDP won 56 seats and the liberal Wafd Party and left-wing Tagammu gained one and three seats respectively. A large number of winners, around 90, are independents, about half of them "NDP independents" who are expected to swell the ranks of the ruling party once the elections are over. These are members of the ruling party who were not officially nominated by the NDP and chose to run as independents.
Commenting on the results, Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs and the NDP's assistant secretary-general, asserted that they "confirm to all that judicial supervision over the elections, as provided for by an historic ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court last July, is real, true and complete."
El-Shazli argued that the NDP's losses in the first stage will by no means affect its majority in the next parliament. "Let's wait until the second and third stages are over," he said.
Despite earlier warnings that the "NDP independents" would be dismissed from the party if they ran for elections, El-Shazli said that "successful independent candidates will be allowed to join the ranks of the NDP again because, in one way or another, they are NDP candidates. They should not be accused of breach of trust because the NDP is their party and this is common knowledge."
Some losers are parliamentary veterans and prominent NDP figures. They include three chairmen of committees of the outgoing People's Assembly whose parliamentary record spans 30 to 35 years: Mohamed Abdellah, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Abdel-Rehim El-Ghoul, chairman of the Youth Affairs Committee; and Mahmoud Abul-Nasr, chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee.
Other losers were Widad Shalabi, the NDP candidate in the Attarin district of Alexandria, and Esmat Nathan, a Coptic businessman running for the NDP in the district of Ghorbal, also in Alexandria.
The Islamists made a good showing in the first stage of elections, with seven of them, six of whom are members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, winning seats.
The winners in Alexandria are the Brotherhood's Mustafa Mohamed (Montaza), Hamdi Hassan and Hussein Ibrahim (Mina Al-Bassal). Independent Adel Eid, who won a seat in Bab Sharq, is an Islamist-oriented lawyer.
Two members of the Brotherhood won seats in Beheira and Port Said governorates: Gamal Heshmat in Damanhour and Akram El-Sha'er in Port Said's Al-Dawahi district. Muslim Brother Saad El-Qirm also took a seat in Shebin Al-Kom, Menoufiya governorate.
The run-off elections in Alexandria's Al-Raml district were postponed until 23 November because of appeals and counter-appeals filed with the Administrative Court. In the first round, Brotherhood candidates Jihan Al-Halafawi and El-Mohamedi Sayed won the highest number of votes. But due to the legal wrangling, the Interior Ministry postponed the run-off round.
The liberal Wafd, the largest opposition party, did not fare well. Out of 72 candidates it nominated in the first stage of elections, only one managed to win a seat.
Two women, out of 30 female candidates, made their way to the next parliament. They are independent Nariman El-Daramalli in Sohag's Tama district and the NDP's Awatef Kahk in the Ibshiway district of Fayoum.
Ayman Nour, a Wafdist candidate in Cairo's Bab Al-Sha'riya district, told Al-Ahram Weekly the fact that "big, significant NDP names lost seats is a very encouraging sign that President Mubarak's promise that the next parliament will see balanced representation by the majority and opposition is genuine. If the second and third stages take the same course, I think the next parliament will include some of the most vocal opposition figures. This is good for democracy and may be the first step toward real political reform."
While the first round went calmly, Tuesday's run-off elections were marred by violence, mainly in Ashmoun (Menoufiya governorate), where one man died, and in Port Said.
In Ashmoun, police fired tear gas canisters at voters who said security forces had tried to keep them from voting. The violence killed one man and injured about 30 others. Most of the casualties were supporters of a Brotherhood candidate. The crowds hurled stones at the municipality building when they found themselves unable to enter polling booths cordoned off by security forces. Later, relatives of the dead man and other demonstrators attempted to set fire to the local police station, but were held back by security forces.
In Port Said, around 30 people, including at least five policemen, were injured in stone-throwing clashes between Brotherhood and NDP supporters, in which police had to intervene.
Additional reporting by Jailan Halawi
Related stories:
Election surprises defy pundits
Second act, same drama
See Elections 2000
