Pre-revolutionary practices

Individual candidacy, threats of an opposition boycott, the exclusion of international monitors. Egypt's first post-revolution election contains echoes of the Mubarak-era past, writes Gamal Essam El-Din

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Forces and movements from across Egypt's political spectrum have threatened a boycott of the parliamentary elections scheduled for November. A coalition of 35 political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the liberal-oriented Wafd party, said on 24 July that they reject new amendments to two laws regulating elections to the People's Assembly and Shura Council. The amendments were endorsed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and made public in a press conference on 20 July. The coalition said they would give SCAF until 7 August to give heed to their demands.

"If the SCAF presses ahead we will boycott the elections and this is a very bad development," said Ayman Nour, leader of the Ghad Party and a member of the coalition.

Nour accused the SCAF of ignoring the coalition's own proposals for amendments, especially when it came to eliminating the 20- year-old individual candidacy system altogether in favour of party-lists.

On 20 July Major General Mamdouh Shahin, the SCAF's legal advisor, told a news conference that the new amendments adopted a mix of two electoral systems, the individual candidacy and party-list.

"Half of the seats in each house will be elected via individual candidacy, the other half comes through party-lists" said Shahin. "Two parties will be allowed to compete in the election under one list."

Shahin said any party must win at least half a per cent of the total vote in order to secure parliamentary representation.

"This is far less than the eight per cent required in the 1980s, or the two per cent threshold that had been proposed to make it easier to join parliament."

The mix of two election systems, however, is opposed by a majority of political parties. They insist that the individual candidacy system be scrapped completely.

According to Nour, political parties agree that the individual candidacy system was largely responsible for the proliferation of election fraud, irregularities, vote-buying and thuggery that characterised elections under Hosni Mubarak.

"Maintaining this system will allow the officials and corrupt businessmen of Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) who corrupted political life to rejoin parliament," argues Nour.

Much to the dismay of some political parties Shahin announced that the two laws would uphold the 47-year-old quota of 50 per cent of seats reserved for representatives of workers and farmers. The elimination of the quota, said Shahin, is not the job of the SCAF but "the responsibility of political activists and MPs when they meet to draft a new constitution after the election".

Liberal parties such as the Ghad and Wafd believe that the 50 per cent quota is a hangover from Nasserist autocracy. More recently, says Nour, it was used "to flood parliament with deputies loyal to the Mubarak regime".

Leftist parties -- including the Nasserists and Tagammu -- believe the 50 per cent quota should be maintained, but only after clarifying the definition of workers and farmers. Rifaat El-Said, leader of the Tagammu, argues that "while it is true that many deputies in previous parliaments were not truly representing the interests of workers and farmers this is not a strong cause to eliminate the quota altogether".

Shahin said "the People's Assembly -- Egypt's lower house -- will be comprised of 504 deputies" supplemented by 10 presidential appointees. This brings the total number of MPs in the coming parliament to 514, compared with 545 in the outgoing parliament. Shahin also indicated that the election of the People's Assembly will be held in 184 districts, 126 of which will be covered by the individual candidacy system and 58 by party-lists.

The Shura Council will see an increase to 390 members from 264, two thirds elected and one third appointed by the president. Shura Council elections will be divided into 93 districts, 65 covered by the individual candidacy system and 28 by party-lists.

The distribution of districts will be designed in terms of geographical size and density of population. The number of party-list districts is fewer than the individual candidacy ones because it will cover a bigger space and geographical size.

Many political parties believe that the Shura Council, which has limited powers, should be eliminated altogether rather than have its membership increased.

The SCAF has also agreed to reduce the lower age limit for People's Assembly candidates from 30 to 25. "This is to help inject new blood into the People's Assembly and encourage members of the youth movements of the 25 January Revolution to join the lower house," said Shahin. Shura Council candidates will need to be 35 or more.

According to Shahin, preparations for elections to the two houses will begin by the end of September.

"As for the vote, it will begin at least 30 days later, to give enough time for newly-established parties to build a good base of support on the street and also to allow civil society monitors to better oversee the process."

The SCAF, however, is opposed to any international monitoring of the poll. "This would be unacceptable," said Shahin. "It will come at the expense of Egyptian sovereignty."

According to Shahin, "the army has vowed the vote will be fair and transparent and it will be placed under full judicial supervision".

"The army's role will be confined to guarding polling stations but it is the judiciary who will take full control of supervising and monitoring the election process."

A Higher Electoral Commission will supervise the election, all of its members drawn from the judiciary.

Shahin explained that the election will be held over three stages, covering different governorates, with 15 days between each.

Opposition parties welcomed the announcement of full judicial supervision of the election. Some, however, complain that international monitors will be prevented from attending the polls.

"The SCAF has simply espoused the Mubarak regime's position that international monitors somehow compromise national sovereignty," says political science professor Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed. "This is wrong. International monitoring could give an important signal to the outside world that Egypt has at last begun the shift to democratic rule and that it no longer fears that foreign monitors will uncover irregularities."