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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 16 - 22 November 2000 Issue No.508 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 16 - 22 November 2000 Issue No.508
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Legal nuances
By Gamal Essam El-DinThe Administrative Court of the State Council has ordered that new elections be held in nine constituencies because of irregularities in the 8 November ballot. The court said that ahead of that date it had ruled that certain candidates should be banned from running for various reasons while others must change their category from "workers" to "professionals" to be eligible to enter the race. Consequently, the election results of these districts, as announced by the Interior Ministry, should be considered null and void, the court said.
The nine constituencies include seven in Cairo and two in Giza. In southern Cairo's district of Helwan, the court ruled that Minister of State for Military Production Sayed Mashaal, the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), must be banned from running because he does not belong to the area and his name was incorrectly registered on the voters' lists. The court ordered fresh elections for the fi'at or professionals seat.
Moreover, the court ordered that the categories under which NDP candidates in the Cairo districts of Al-Zawya Al-Hamra, Al-Khalifa, Nasr City, Qasr Al-Nil and Al-Azbaqiya should be changed from workers to professionals if they are to run. The candidates are Mohamed Sayed Ahmed, Fathi Soliman, Thoraya Labina, Abdel-Aziz Mustafa and Mahmoud Ibrahim. This would mean fresh elections for all seats in the five districts, the court added.
The same applies to two districts in the Giza governorate. The court ordered fresh elections in the Giza city constituency. It said Badr Mahrous Shaarawi, the NDP candidate, must change his category from workers to professionals. In Giza's Bulaq Al-Dakrour district, the court ordered fresh elections for the workers' seat because independent candidate Mohamed Omar Zayed was found to be illiterate.
Dodging these orders by using legal technicalities, the Interior Ministry went ahead on Tuesday with the run-off elections in the nine districts.
Minister Mashaal and other disqualified candidates filed appeals with Cairo's Urgent Matters Court. The court approved the appeals and set 9 December as the date of hearings. But it appears the People's Assembly will have the final say as to whether the elections in these constituencies were valid or not. Mohamed Moussa, chairman of the outgoing parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, criticised the Administrative Court rulings, accusing it of infringing upon the legislative authority. "The assembly will not comply with the Administrative Court's rulings because they run counter to Article 93 of the constitution. This article empowers the assembly with deciding on the legal status of its members once they are elected by voters in their constituencies," said Moussa.
In opposition circles, there was sharp criticism over the way the government reacted to the rulings. In an open letter to Justice Minister Farouq Seif El-Nasr, chairman of the Wafd Party Nomaan Gomaa asked why Seif El-Nasr had failed to respect the law and carry out the court's rulings. "In your capacity as justice minister and a former chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, you are certainly aware that appeals against the rulings should be filed with the court which handed them down, namely the Higher Administrative Court," said Gomaa.
According to Yehia El-Gamal, a Cairo University professor of constitutional law, the appeals were filed with the Urgent Matters Court to buy time and make the new parliament the authority empowered with deciding the legal status of the disqualified candidates.
"The assembly is in the habit of rejecting rulings of the Administrative Court and the Court of Cassation on the grounds that it is the master of its own decisions," El-Gamal said. He added that the Administrative Court had handed down its rulings before the elections were held in the nine constituencies. "This means that they should be respected by the government. Had the rulings been handed down after the elections, it would have been reasonable to say that it is only parliament that is authorised to decide on the legal position of its members."
El-Gamal believed that neither the government nor the new parliament will respect the rulings. "The Administrative Court's rulings mean that the NDP should lose four seats. In each of these constituencies, and as dictated by the constitution and the law, the NDP fielded two candidates -- one for the workers' seat and the other for the professionals' seat. When one of these two candidates is ordered by the court to change his category from workers to professionals, it means that he will compete against the NDP's other candidate for the same, or the professionals' seat," El-Gamal said.
Related stories:
Setting the standard
Registering the aftershocks
See Elections 2000
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