13 - 19 September 2001
Issue No.551
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 September 2001 Issue No.551 |
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It's not over yet
Businessman Rami Lakah's lost seat in parliament has given the ruling NDP a problem. Gamal Essam El-Din reports
ust when Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin thought he had won himself a seat in the Peoples Assembly, the administrative court threw a spanner in the works. Gamaleddin, a lawyer and prominent NDP member, had just won a seven-month legal battle to have businessman Rami Lakah deprived of his seat in parliament, representing the Cairo district of Ezbekiya for the professionals (fi'at) seat, for holding a dual nationality. But instead of sliding smoothly into the vacated spot, Gamaleddin will now have to fight a by- election with the former incumbent of the workers' (ummal) seat, NDP member Mahmoud Ibrahim. And now the NDP will have to decide which of them is its official candidate.
No sooner was Lakah stripped of his membership three weeks ago, for holding dual nationality, than Ibrahim lost his seat as a worker representing Ezbekiya because, the Administrative Court said, he should have stood for election as a professional, not a worker. Ibrahim immediately resigned and announced that he will contest the upcoming by-election for the professionals seat.
Ibrahim is a prominent NDP member, and deputy chairman of parliament's Youth and Sports Committee. He surprised political observers when he announced on Saturday that he would resign his seat in order to run as a professional in the by-elections. "Although I still have the right to file an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court," Ibrahim said, "this is out of the question." "I will announce my resignation at the beginning of the next parliamentary session. This is the best option at the moment because filing an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court will be to no avail. It will take a long time and it is not certain that the outcome will be in my favour," he added.
Ibrahim explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that he has held Ezbekiya's workers' seat for almost 20 years. This, he averred, was possible, because he had been a worker at an industrial company. "But last week, the Administrative Court ordered me to change my category from worker to professional, because I reached retirement age three years ago, and am no longer entitled to run for the workers' seat," Ibrahim said. "After considering the matter for a while, I decided that it is best for me to resign from parliament and contest the Ezbekiya by-election for the professionals' seat. I know that this will pit me against my NDP colleague Gamaleddin, but this is the only option before me right now," he added.
These developments have put the NDP's leadership in a bind. They will have to decide who is the party's official candidate in the by-elections.
Reports suggest that Ibrahim is more popular in Ezbekiya than Gamaleddin. But informed sources told the Weekly that the NDP is likely to resort to the district's "electoral community" to select its nominee for the professionals' seat. "This community, which includes the party's leading members in Ezbekiya, will decide who will be the NDP's official candidate," sources said.
The now vacant workers' seat will also be contended, although it is too early to predict contenders. Ibrahim's main rival in last year's elections was independent Mustafa El-Shazli.
Legal experts differ over how the by- elections should be organised. Some argue that nominations should be confined to candidates who competed for the district's seats in last year's elections. Others say the by- elections should accept new candidates.
The complicated situation in Ezbekiya is expected to have ramifications in other districts. The Administrative Court is about to issue rulings that may negatively affect the membership of at least 20 deputies. Ahead of last year's elections, the court ordered that some of these deputies (then candidates), should change from the workers to the professionals category in order to be eligible to run. But the Interior Ministry ignored the rulings and went ahead with the elections on the grounds that the disqualified candidates had filed appeals with the Urgent Matters Court. The latter rejected these appeals last January. Consequently, the Administrative Court is about to order the membership of these deputies null. Such a move will lead to by-elections, both for the workers and professionals seats, in four Cairo districts: El-Zawiya El-Hamra, Nasr City, El-Khalifa and Qasr El-Nil.
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