22 - 28 February 2001
Issue No.522
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 February 2001 Issue No.522 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Foiled again
After a long delay and amid tight security, thousands of lawyers cast their votes on Saturday to elect a syndicate chairman and board members in a long-awaited Bar Association election. But it was not to be: despite the heavy turnout, the number of voters failed to meet the legal quorum.
The Bar Association's headquarters in Cairo draped in campaign banners in vain
photo: Adel Ahmed
All members of the Association's general assembly -- a total of 87,060 -- are entitled to vote. For the election results to be valid, more than 50 per cent of eligible voters (43,531 people) have to participate. However, only 40,210 lawyers showed up for last Saturday's elections -- a ironic twist in the vociferous quest for "liberation" from government control. There was no official explanation for the absence of a quorum. The ballot will be repeated on 24 February, and, in line with the statutes, only a third of the general assembly members will be required as a quorum.
Ten lawyers are running for syndicate chairman, with Nasserist Sameh Ashour, Raga'i Atteya of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and Wafdist Ahmed Nasser topping the list. Another 207 are vying for the council's 24 seats. The elections were held at the syndicate's Cairo headquarters and spread out over its branch offices throughout the country -- 253 polling stations in all. Judges supervising the elections arrived before 8.00a.m. and remained until the balloting ended at 5.00p.m.
The turnout was remarkably high. Starting from the early morning, thousands of lawyers thronged the polling stations, but in some places, voting was delayed for up to two hours due to the absence of polling station members in charge of coordinating with election judges. In the governorates of Alexandria, Beheira and Gharbiya, voters became confused after some polling stations were unexpectedly relocated. Security forces cordoned off polling stations to ensure that only lawyers went inside, but ultimately, the balloting passed off smoothly and without incident.
Since 1996, when the Bar Association was placed under judicial sequestration due to alleged financial irregularities committed by its Islamist-controlled council, lawyers have been waiting for the chance to take back control of their syndicate. A court ruling last year ordered that elections be organised, bringing to an end the government's indefinite involvement in the syndicate's affairs, and an interim committee was appointed to run the syndicate until a new council was elected. After some considerable foot-dragging the necessary steps were taken and the committee announced that elections would be staged last July. They were interminably delayed, however, while lawyers and the government filed appeals and counter-appeals contesting the locations of some polling stations and other matters related to the election.
Leading up to this month's elections, lawyers belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood distributed lists of candidates they were backing, including eight Islamist candidates and, notably, Raga'i Atteya, the government's nominee for council chairmanship. This appears to be part of a deal between the Brotherhood and Atteya -- the first of its kind between the government and the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is clearly hoping to improve relations with the government by supporting Atteya. In turn, the government is counting on the weight of Islamist lawyers to garner support for its nominee.
The fact that not enough voters turned out for the elections may be inexplicable for many a lawyer who regards the vote as a quest for "liberation." One lawyer standing in a long queue outside the polling station said he had been waiting for this moment for four years and was impassioned about regaining the syndicate's legitimacy. Another said that party politics had nothing to do with it: he would give his vote to the candidates capable of serving syndicate members and protecting their gains. He said that ideology took the back-seat in this case and it did not matter if the new chairman was a Nasserist, an Islamist or a member of the NDP.
Equally effusive was Lawyer Mortada Mansour, who said he believed the new council would finally reflect the true wishes of the lawyers, saying, with conviction, that "they will prove to be up to the responsibility." Maybe so, but they have to get there first.
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