14 - 20 June 2001
Issue No.538
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 June 2001 Issue No.538 |
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NDP sweeps pallid poll
With the NDP leading and opposition parties fast retreating, the final round of the Shura Council mid-term elections took place on Tuesday. Gamal Essam El-Din reports
A total of 17 candidates from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and 22 independents contested Tuesday's run-off elections for 16 Shura Council seats. The council is a consultative body with no legislative powers.
Tuesday's battle was the second round of the third and final stage of the low-profile polling. The first round of the third stage, held last Thursday, witnessed 242 candidates vying for 33 seats representing 25 constituencies in eight governorates: Cairo, Alexandria, Kafr El-Sheikh, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Aswan and the New Valley. Three seats had been won uncontested by NDP candidates in the New Valley, Assiut and El-Minya.
The candidates included 34 fielded by the NDP, 10 by four opposition parties and one by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The remaining 197 were mostly NDP members who decided to run independently after the party declined to include them on its official ticket.
In last Thursday's round, the NDP won 14 seats, raising to 60 the number of seats captured by the NDP since elections began on 19 May. Topping the list of NDP winners in last week's battle were Ahmed El-Amawi, Minister of Manpower, Nabih El-Alkami, NDP secretary for youth affairs, and businessman Helmi El-Gezeiri. The Administrative Court had ruled El-Amawi ineligible to run for the workers' seat, but he effectively won a suspension of the ruling by filing an appeal. In Kafr El-Sheikh's Borollous district, the only Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Amer, an engineer, failed. Amer is the cousin of journalist and Nasserist MP Hamdin Sabahi.
Mohamed Ragab, leader of the NDP majority in the Shura Council, won the seat of the Cairo district of Gamaliya following a tough battle against Gamila Ismail, a TV announcer and wife of independent MP Ayman Nour. Nour, who was expelled from the Wafd Party's ranks last March, had organised a sit-in at the People's Assembly last week to protest against what he called the "arbitrary measures" taken by Central Security Forces against Ismail's supporters. Nour also accused the security forces of rigging the elections. The battle at Gamaliya was contested by nine candidates, including three Copts.
Ragab told Al-Ahram Weekly that his victory was "a triumph of principles and values over money and corruption."
In Alexandria, businessman Mohamed Farag Amer, an NDP candidate, won the seat of Bab Shark district, beating 11 rivals, including three from the leftist Tagammu Party and the frozen Islamist-oriented Labour Party.
After the results of last Thursday's poll were announced, it became clear that not one of 26 opposition party candidates and two Brotherhood hopefuls emerged victorious. All 20 women candidates also failed to win seats.
The only threat to the NDP came from independents who, before Tuesday's concluding round, were able to win nine seats. Businessman Sayed El-Rawas, NDP candidate in the Cairo district of El-Sayeda Zeinab, faced an uphill battle against independent Ahmed Salama, also a businessman. El-Rawas had been barred by the Administrative Court from contesting the elections on the grounds that he had dodged military service. He reacted by filing an appeal, thus effectively suspending the ruling.
For the first time, two Coptic candidates were able to qualify for the run-off elections. The first was Zeinhom Fikri Mikhail in Minya, who fought a tough battle against independent Talaat Mansour, a retired army major-general and an outspoken critic of government policies. The second was Hani Gamil Bishai in the Assiut district of El-Ghanyem.
Exercising his constitutional authority, President Hosni Mubarak will appoint 44 Council members next week, bringing the total number of newly-elected and appointed members to 132. He is expected to prolong the membership of many incumbents for a six-year term. Foremost among these are the board chairmen of four national press organisations: Al-Ahram, Akhbar El-Yom, Dar El-Tahrir and Al-Hilal.
The council will later hold three procedural sessions to elect a speaker and two deputies and swear in new members. Incumbent Mustafa Kamal Helmi is expected to be re-elected as speaker for a fourth term.
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