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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 Rough riding in round three
At stake in the final round of Election 2000 were 125 seats. Held on Tuesday in Cairo and seven other governorates, the third stage run-offs saw 250 candidates, including 140 independents, 103 from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), three each from the liberal Wafd and leftist Tagammu and one from the Nasserist Party. The independents included seven members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Although an NDP victory was a forgone conclusion, several incidents of violence were reported. The violence stemmed in part from desperate NDP supporters bent on avenging the party's unexpectedly poor results in the first two stages of the balloting. Some party members seemed determined to right themselves this time around and stem the tide of election defeats, most notably against the Brotherhood which bagged 15 parliamentary seats.
In Toukh, north of Cairo, supporters of independent candidate Omar Seifeddin, angered after being denied access to polling stations, threw stones at police who fired live ammunition. Four people were killed and many others were injured.
According to the Interior Ministry, the clashes erupted between the supporters of rival candidates. It said police were forced to intervene to restore calm.
What promised at first to be the fairest election since 1952 turned sour in its final stage. Many polling stations in several governorates were sealed off by police forces to prevent the supporters of NDP rivals from voting. The crowds reacted by hurling stones at police who responded by firing tear gas and rubber pellets. In some districts, the assistance of thugs was enlisted to scare away the voters.
At the industrial suburb of Shubra Al-Kheima, in the north of Greater Cairo, one person was killed and 30 other people were wounded or suffered gas inhalation in clashes with police who prevented them from voting.
The protesters, supporting the Brotherhood's candidate Hussein El-Dorg, shouted the group's slogan "Islam is the solution." They pelted police with stones and police responded with rubber pellets and tear gas. One of the residents of the constituency said that six polling stations were shut in the face of voters. Many of El-Dorg's supporters, including his campaign manager, were detained on the eve of the run-offs, he added.
At Tebbin, south of Cairo, 40 thugs carrying firearms and knives were arrested as they were being driven in nine cars to support independent candidate Mustafa Bakri, a journalist, against Mohamed Mahgoub, former minister of Al-Awqaf [religious endowments], the Interior Ministry said.
At Maadi-Bassatin, south of Cairo, policemen, some of them on horse-back and backed by sniffer dogs, prevented voters from casting ballots for the Brotherhood's candidate Abdel-Fattah Rizq who ran against Mohamed El-Morshedi, an independent NDP- sympathiser. Many of Rizq's supporters and proxies were arrested.
Police were assisted by thugs. "I am a thug and the government hired me to prevent any human being from approaching the polling station," a scary-looking man told an Al Ahram Weekly reporter. "So, get out of here." In the same constituency, a woman thug slapped AP reporter Sarah El-Dib on the face, pulled her hair and pushed her to the ground.
In the Al-Wayli-Abbassiya district, supporters of NDP candidate Ahmed Abdel-Aziz shouted Islamic slogans and asked voters not to elect Wafdist candidate Mounir Fakhri Abdennour, a Copt. "There is no God but God and Mohamed is his prophet," they shouted. Abdennour's supporters responded that "religion is for God and the homeland is for all." An angry Abdennour accused his opponent of using "dirty tricks" and attempting to incite sectarian strife.
At the district of Kafr Shukr in Qalyubiya governorate north of Cairo, the competition was fierce between Khaled Mohieddin, leader of the leftist Tagammu Party, and Wafdist Mohamed Sarhan. The latter charged that police prevented his supporters from casting ballots. "This is unfair," he said. Sarhan also charged that Mohieddin's supporters smashed the windshield of his car on the eve of the run-offs.
Reported by Khaled Dawoud, Amira Howeidy, Rehab Saad, Dena Rashed and Soha Abdelaty
Related stories:
Capitalising on the clampdown
The demise of politics?
Election or selection Necessary precautions
Legal nuances
Registering the aftershocks
See Elections 2000
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