Al-Ahram Weekly Isssue No. 249 30 Nov. - 6 Dec. 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

On the opposition trail

The loudest cry of "foul" came from leading members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood; Ma'amoun El-Hodeibi, the groups spokesman (above) complains from alleged rigging

Opposition party leaders appeared confident and in high spirits on general election day, yesterday, as they toured their constituencies surrounded by hundreds of supporters and considerable fanfare. If handshakes and banners are an indication of election results, Khaled Mohieddin, leader of the Tagammu Party, and opposition leader in the outgoing parliament, seemed certain to re-occupy his seat in the People's Assembly for the next five years. Walls throughout the Delta town of Kafr Shukr and surrounding villages were replete with banners and posters carrying the leftist leader's name, portrait, and the slogan: "For Egypt's sake: elect Khaled Mohieddin".

Dressed in the elegant robes of a prosperous rural landlord, Mohieddin was everywhere thronged by cheering peasants who rushed to shake his hand and kiss his cheeks. Shouts of "good luck, boss", "we are with you Pasha", and "you are certain to win", resounded during his tour of the constituency.

Mohieddin's main rival was Wafdist candidate Akram Diab. The ruling National Democratic Party had reportedly fielded a weak candidate as a courtesy to Mohieddin. Diab's supporters seemed despondent, and one of them accused the leftist leader's supporters of rigging the elections in his favour.

The polling was equally calm in Sherbin, the Delta constituency of Ibrahim Shukri, leader of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party. Like Mohieddin, Shukri's electoral support is mostly based on his old family ties and landlord status in the area, which he has represented in the People's Assembly on several previous occasions. Shukri toured his constituency in a black limousine, while his supporters distributed a last-minute campaign pamphlet with a picture of Shukri sitting between President Mubarak and the late President Anwar El-Sadat on its front page.

But while an apparently confident Shukri expressed himself as satisfied with the course of the polling in his constituency, his party was issuing a statement in Cairo charging gross electoral malpractice throughout the country.

"In a wave of unprecedented repressive police measures, the Ministry of the Interior has intervened in the proceeding of the polling process in favour of the candidates of the National Democratic Party," the Labour Party statement alleged.

The discrepancy between party leader and party appeared also in the case of the Democratic Nasserist Party and its leader Diaeddin Dawoud. Dawoud, who enjoys strong local support in his north Delta constituency of Faraskour, which he represented in the outgoing Assembly, asserted that the police and the administrative bodies had stayed clear of the polling and that "transgressions" were rather the work of individual "bankrupt" candidates. But other Nasserist Party candidates were not similarly sanguine. In the Mediterranean town of Baltim, women supporters of Nasserist candidate Hamdin Sabahi were allegedly prevented from voting by polling station officials. Scuffles ensued and the police were reported to have used tear gas canisters to disperse the angry crowd.

In the Cairo district of Qasr Al-Nil, Wafd Party spokesman Yassin Serageddin echoed other party leaders in expressing satisfaction with the fairness of the polling. Voting, which Serageddin estimated at 15-20 per cent higher than in previous elections, was calm in the constituency, which includes the upper class district of Zamalek. However, the police were investigating a complaint by a Wafd Party poll-watcher at the polling station in Zamalek's Al-Qawmiya school.

Serageddin seemed less confident of victory than other leading opposition figures. Though the NDP has, reportedly, intentionally fielded a weak official candidate, Helmi El-Maraghi, against Serageddin, he faces strong competition from renegade NDP member and millionaire physician Hossam Badrawi, running as an independent. Serageddin adopted a philosophical, 'may the best man win', tone. "I am no man's rival and whoever is chosen will serve the people, and it is this that matters the most," Serageddin told the Weekly.

The loudest cry of "foul" came from leading members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, running as independents, and from Adel Hussein, the Marxist-turned-Islamist secretary-general of the Labour Party.

The election in the Cairo constituency of Nasr City, where Hussein was running, has been beset by problems and charges of electoral malpractice, even before polling day yesterday. An administrative court had annulled the registration of 13,000 young people who had had their voter registration transferred from their original constituencies to Nasr City by NDP candidate and minister without portfolio, Abdel-Moneim Emara.

Since early morning yesterday, charges of electoral malpractice in Nasr City abounded. Both Adel Hussein and Mohamed Shehab, a leftist candidate running as an independent, said their representatives had been denied entry to the polling stations. They were told that a power of attorney from the candidate was insufficient, and they needed special permits from the police.

"We have been using power-of-attorney documents in all previous elections, but at 7am this morning we were told that a police permit was necessary," complained Salwa Saad, agent for Shehab. According to both Hussein's and Shehab's supporters, they were given the run-around by the police, and it was hours before they could enter the polling stations. Even those who obtained a police permit were still barred from some of the stations, the supporters alleged.

A government source, however, said that a police permit was necessary in view of the large number of candidates running in this year's elections, otherwise dozens of candidates' representatives would crowd the polling stations, creating chaos and making it easier to rig the poll.

The bussing of government officials to vote for the NDP's candidates was another charge made by the opposition candidates in Nasr City as well as in other districts. Hussein, however, was also disappointed with the turnout of his constituents. "Other than the bussed-in voters, the turnout has been very low. It is unfortunate that the mass of voters, especially the middle class, are staying away from the election," he said.

But for Safaa Abdel-Meguid, a Nasr City housewife, all that mattered is which candidate can better serve the district. "All I want is to have the streets lit so that I don't have to worry about my children when they come home at night. I believe in all this talk of liberties and so on, but in the end I must give my vote to someone who can serve the district. That is why I am voting for Emara. He promised to turn Nasr City into another Ismailia."

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