Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 30 Nov. - 6 Dec. 2000 Issue No.510

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Taking the poll to the courts

By Gamal Essam El-Din

The newly-elected People's Assembly may soon be facing a constitutional crisis because of dozens of appeals contesting the legality of the membership of a large number of deputies. The appeals have been filed in both the Administrative Court and the Court of Cassation. The appeals filed with the Administrative Court are expected to cause the major constitutional problems: it had accepted the appeals before the third and final round of elections, ruling that certain candidates should be banned from running in 15 constituencies for various reasons while others must change their category from "workers" to "professionals." The Interior Ministry ignored the rulings and went ahead with the elections on the grounds that the disqualified candidates had filed counter-appeals with the Urgent Matters Court. The latter court set mid-December as the date for the start of hearings.

The action of the Interior Ministry has triggered an angry response in judicial circles. Raafat Youssef, chairman of the Administrative Court, announced that his court is solely empowered by the Constitution to decide on appeals regarding the disqualification of candidates who fail properly to meet preconditions, especially that they should be correctly registered on the lists of voters and have done their military service.

Youssef emphasised that the rulings of the Administrative Court are final and cannot be contested except before the tribunal that handed them down, namely the Higher Administrative Court.

"Besides, the Supreme Constitutional Court had ruled in August 1998 that the counter-appeals filed against the rulings of the Administrative Court with the Urgent Matters Court or any other court should be considered null and void," Youssef added. He argued that the obvious objective of the counter-appeals was to buy time and empower the new parliament with the authority to decide the legal status of the disqualified candidates.

The Administrative Court had disqualified 30 candidates from running in 15 constituencies, including six in Cairo, two in Giza, six in Qalyubiya and one in the Red Sea governorate.

The fact that some of these candidates are either high-ranking officials or prominent businessmen has led to a crisis between the government and the People's Assembly on the one hand, and the judicial authority on the other.

Youssef sharply criticised government lawyers for contesting before Cairo's Urgent Matters Court the Administrative Court's ruling that Sayed Mashaal, minister of state for military production and candidate for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in southern Cairo's district of Helwan, should be banned from running. The Administrative Court based its ruling on the fact that Mashaal did not belong to the area and that his name was incorrectly registered on the voters' lists.

The crisis escalated when Mashaal responded by ridiculing the Administrative Court's ruling. At a rally held in Helwan, Mashaal boasted that he has become the most well-known member of the new parliament "because six rulings were passed against me." Mashaal's words were received with indignation not only in judicial circles, but also on the pages of major national newspapers. Akhbar El-Yom and the magazine Al-Mussawar accused Mashaal of arrogance. Al-Mussawar even said that "he is not a good example of the new deputies. It would be a grave mistake for the new Assembly not to implement the Administrative Court's ruling and dispense with him."

The fury in judicial circles escalated further when the Administrative Court's rulings were ignored by the cabinet at a meeting on 22 November. The cabinet announced that the elections were marked by full integrity. "These elections also reflected the confidence of citizens in the ruling NDP and the government," the cabinet's statement said.

There is a consensus among legal and constitutional experts that the fact that the Administrative Court's rulings were ignored could be used to disqualify the new parliament on constitutional grounds. No'man Gomaa, chairman of the Wafd Party, urged President Hosni Mubarak to personally intervene and save the country from a possible constitutional crisis.

"The refusal of the Interior Ministry and the People's Assembly to implement the rulings of the Administrative Court negatively affects the principle of the separation of authorities and could expose the new parliament to the possibility of dissolution," said Gomaa. Informed judicial sources argued that the candidates negatively affected by the Interior Ministry's action can contest the constitutionality of the new parliament before the Supreme Constitutional Court.

In another direction, there are growing fears that the mid-term elections of the consultative Shura Council, due in April, may become another constitutional problem. Several judicial sources argued that these elections violate the Supreme Constitutional Court's ruling that polling stations be completely supervised by members of the judicial authority. This is due to the fact that the membership of one half of the Council's members, who will not run in these elections, should be considered as null and void because the previous elections that brought them to the Council were not supervised fully by the judiciary. In order to comply with the Constitutional Court's ruling, experts suggested that fresh elections for all Council seats be organised.

The Administrative Court, in addition to the rulings issued ahead of the third stage of parliamentary elections, is expected to hand down other rulings in connection with appeals filed following the elections. In these appeals, a number of failed candidates charged that security forces had banned citizens from voting. However, the rulings should not be a major problem for the new Assembly because the issue is dealt with by Article 93 of the constitution, which empowers the Assembly to decide the legal status of its members once they are elected.

The same article applies to a large number of other appeals filed with the Court of Cassation. Article 93 states that appeals against the results of elections should be submitted to the People's Assembly Speaker. The latter should, within 15 days, refer these appeals to the Cassation Court for investigation. The article, however, empowers the Assembly, with the approval of two thirds of its members, to decide on these appeals.

Until the end of last week, the Assembly had referred over 300 appeals to the Cassation Court; this number is eventually expected to double. Following the 1995 elections, the number of appeals totalled 914. More than half of them were accepted by the Cassation Court which recommended fresh elections in the relevant constituencies. The Assembly, citing Article 93 and a legal argument to the effect that parliament is sovereign with respect to its membership, rejected the decision of the Cassation Court.

A large number of independent MPs have decided to direct questions directly to the Interior Minister regarding his refusal to comply with the Administrative Court's rulings.

"We hope that we will be able to amend the 1956 Law on the Exercise of Political Rights and put an end to the irregularities which enveloped the polling process throughout the last 44 years and forced the country into a vicious circle of constitutional crises," said Farouk Metwalli, independent MP for Suez.

Related stories:
Rank-and-file dissenters 23 - 29 November 2000
Legal nuances 16 - 22 November 2000
The new equation 16 - 22 November 2000
See Elections 2000

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