Pluralism in the Press Syndicate
Although competition for the Press Syndicate's 12 council seats is expected to be fierce, the race for the chairman's post is another story altogether. Shaden Shehab reports
Press Syndicate elections are set to take place on 25 June, with 76 journalists vying for the council's 12 seats. They span the spectrum of political ideologies, including ruling NDP supporters, liberals, leftists and Islamists. Twenty six journalists from Al-Ahram, nine from Al-Gomhouria, and eight from Al-Akhbar are amongst those running.
With the syndicate's downtown headquarters already plastered with campaign banners, those hoping to be elected to its council have been making the rounds of the country's major press organisations, attempting to drum up support.
Out of 4,085 syndicate members, 1,207 work for Al-Ahram, 525 for Al- Akhbar, and 526 for Al-Gomhouria. Although some syndicate veterans are pushing journalists to only vote for candidates from their own organisation or newspaper, many voters seem unconvinced.
Most of those spoken to by Al-Ahram Weekly have already made up their minds about who they want to represent them; several journalists said that "neither a candidate's visit nor orders from above" would do any good. A great many were in agreement that the council should include a variety of personalities with different political affiliations, and from different newspapers. They praised the politically diverse council that came out of the previous elections, held in 1999.
Nine members of that outgoing council have re-nominated themselves. They include Yehia Qallash, general- secretary of the outgoing council, as well as its vice-president, Ragai El- Merghani. Qallash said the number of candidates this year was comparable to the number of candidates in previous elections, something El-Merghani described as a "healthy sign".
Also like previous elections, candidates have been promising voters both political and material gains if they are elected. Political promises include the lifting of all legal provisions that include imprisonment for publication offences, the establishment of new newspapers, and the improvement of professional qualifications. Material promises include providing low-priced housing and summer resorts, mobile phone lines, sports club membership, and many other trappings of a better life.
The race for the syndicate chairman's post is another story altogether. Although there are four people running for the seat, outgoing Syndicate Chairman Ibrahim Nafie, the chairman of Al-Ahram Organisation's board of directors and the chief editor of the daily Al-Ahram, is expected to win big.
Fathi El-Sheikh, a journalist with the independent weekly Sada Al-Osbou, and Amer Eid and Mohamed Abu Luwaya, journalists from the frozen Al- Shaab newspaper, are the unlikely rivals for the post.
Unlike the chief editor of the defunct Islamist newspaper, Magdi Hussein, who ran against Nafie in the last elections, the three contenders are unknowns, who stand neglible chances of competing with an influential figure such as Nafie. Although many journalists favour Nafie's return as chairman, some still had hoped for a more competitive race.
The absence of genuine competition over the chairman's post could be construed as "a lack of alternatives, or else as reflecting a feeling that no one can seriously compete with Nafie," said one senior journalist.
Nafie was syndicate chairman from 1993-1997, then from 1999 until today. Although the Press Syndicate Law stipulates that the chairman can run only for two consecutive two-year terms, Nafie was able to re-nominate himself this round due to a syndicate judicial committee's decision to implement several administrative court rulings which effectively cancelled the chairman's elections that took place in 1999 and 2001.
The consensus surrounding Nafie seems to stem from his commitment to political and ideolgical pluralism in the Press Syndicate. The various Syndicate Council's headed by Nafie have been notable not only for the wide diversity of political and ideological leanings, but also for their ability to work smoothly together. Many journalists attribute this virtually unique trait in the country's white-collar unions to Nafie's astute leadership.
A highpoint of Nafie's leadership has been the 1995 battle waged by journalists against Law 93 of that year, which stiffened prison sentences for libel offences. Nafie joined ranks with the mass of journalists in a fierce campaign against the law, which finally succeeded in having it repealed. Journalists are yet to win "the war", however; which is to abolish altogether imprisonment as a penalty for publication offences. Nafie has repeatedly reasserted his commitment to this goal, actively intervening in cases involving the imprisonment of journalists.
One such case, in fact, has cast a long shadow over the current Press Syndicate election. Mustafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of the weekly Al-Osbou' newspaper and Mahmoud Bakri, his deputy and brother, have been in prison since last week's Cassation Court verdict confirming a one-year prison term given them by a lower court three years ago. The brothers were found guilty of libel, after allegedly slandering Mohamed Abdel-Aal, the former head of the Social Justice Party and the former editor-in-chief of the weekly Al-Watan Al-Arabi newspaper. Ironically, on 24 May, a State Security Court had actually sentenced Abdel- Aal to 10 years in prison after finding him guilty of extortion and receiving bribes.
Nafie has submitted a request to the prosecutor general, asking for a suspension of the sentence against the Bakri brothers, on the grounds that Abdel-Aal was found guilty of the charges they made against him. Nafie also reiterated his demand that any provisions of 1996's press law that stipulate imprisonment for publication offences be cancelled.
