As it once was

By Naguib Mahfouz

---

Before the 1952 Revolution, Al-Wafd Party won every single fair election held in the country. In the few cases Al-Wafd lost, chances were the elections were rigged. Allow me to give you one example. El-Dessouqi Abaza Pasha, a prominent landlord, once lost in his own constituency simply because he was not a Wafdist. Even peasants working for El-Dessouqi voted for his opponent, a Wafdist. Tharwat Abaza, El-Dessouqi's son, is the one who told me the story.

This is how things were before the revolution. Even landlords could not depend on their power alone to win seats in the parliament.

To this day, some people are under the impression that in rural areas a candidate's wealth or clan is the decisive factor in elections. But this was not always the case. Before the revolution, peasants were able to make up their minds independently, despite how powerful the men contesting the elections were.

El-Dessouqi went on to win in other elections, but this one failure at the beginning of his political career says a lot about pre-revolutionary rural political life.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.