Legal wrangling at the Press Syndicate
The upcoming Press Syndicate elections are awash with legal complications that may result in serious repercussions. Shaden Shehab reports
The candidates were busy campaigning, their posters plastered on walls, their flyers distributed to voters, and their election promises being made over and over. Basically, everything was set for the Press Syndicate elections to take place on 25 June, with 70 journalists competing -- after six withdrew -- for 12 council seats and four for the post of chairman.
On Sunday, however, things changed when an administrative court scrapped a judicial committee's decision to hold the elections on 25 June. That decision had been announced earlier in the month by Hanaa El-Mansi, chairman of the South Cairo Court and the judicial committee for professional syndicates -- a body responsible for the organisation of elections for professional syndicates in accordance with 1993's Law 100.
El-Mansi's ruling basically forced the syndicate to comply with previous court rulings concerning three people -- Fayez Zayed, Youssriya Nasser and Hanaa Mustafa -- who were trying to become members of the syndicate, but were rejected because the first does not hold a university degree, and the other two did not work as journalists for the amount of time required by the Press Syndicate law.
The three had won several administrative court rulings over the past few years allowing them to join the syndicate. But it was only this month -- with the syndicate council and chairman's terms set to end -- that the rulings were taken into consideration.
El-Mansi's ruling had the effect of making the 1999 and 2001 elections for syndicate chairman null and void, thus providing a window for Ibrahim Nafie, Al-Ahram's chairman of the board and editor-in-chief, and the current syndicate chairman, to run for chairman again, since the syndicate law only allows two consecutive terms.
But even as the syndicate decided to implement the part of the ruling nullifying the 1999 and 2001 elections, it refused to implement the part allowing Zayed, Nasser and Mustafa to become members. Sunday's administrative court decision was a direct result of that discrepancy, with the court saying the rulings were only used as a pretext to hold new elections without actually implementing the ruling's other elements.
As a result, the administrative court ruled that the judicial committee's decision to hold elections on 25 June be halted. The court ordered that nominations be proffered anew, and that every stage of the elections be conducted under complete judicial supervision, rather than under the auspices of the syndicate council itself.
During a press conference on Tuesday, El-Mansi announced that in compliance with Sunday's administrative court ruling, elections will be postponed until the press syndicate membership lists are revised. He said that the judicial committee will make certain that the list includes the people who have attained court rulings allowing them to become members. He also said a new date for the elections will be announced as soon as that task is completed.
It is apparent that the judicial committee has chosen to deal with the situation at hand rather than postpone its ramifications. The other option -- contesting the ruling -- would have resulted in it not being implemented, and the elections held as previously scheduled.
According to Ragai El-Merghani, the syndicate's vice-chairman, both choices have serious ramifications. Contesting the ruling with another court would have meant that whatever syndicate council and chairman would have been elected may have eventually ended up being judged illegal, which would have only kept the problem unresolved for even longer. On the other hand, abiding by the court ruling and allowing the concerned individuals to become members of the Press Syndicate, means saying good-bye to respect for the Press Syndicate law.
"We are in difficult times," agreed Abdel-Aal El- Baqouri, a second vice-chairman. "If the game is not played carefully and correctly there will be dire consequences." He said that the Press Syndicate should abide by the court rulings but should not accept interference in its affairs.
