Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 250 7 - 13 December 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Brawn in the ballot

By Shaden Shehab

Violence, with supporters of rival candidates using firearms, iron chains and heavy sticks, broke out on the eve of the first round of elections, and continued on election day, 29 November, even after the results were announced. By last Saturday, 17 people had been killed and nearly 100 others injured. Observers said it was the worst outbreak of election-related violence in memory.

Three people died, one in the Mediterranean town of Damietta, another in Qalyubia, a province just north of Cairo, and the third in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena, on the eve of the balloting. On election day itself, five more people were killed and about 50 were injured. In the few days that followed, the number of deaths soared to 17 and the number of injured to nearly 100.
The northern Nile Delta province of Kafr Al-sheikh had the greatest share of fatalities - eight. Other deaths were reported in Daqahliya, Sharqiya and Qalyubia - all in the Nile Delta - and in Giza, south of Cairo, and the Upper Egyptian province of Sohag.

The violence ran concurrently with a campaign of arrests against members and supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Interior Ministry sources said 95 of them remained behind bars for disrupting public order and staging anti-government demonstrations near polling stations during balloting in eight governorates. The sources said knives and chains were seized, which those arrested had planned to use to intimidate voters and prevent them from casting their ballots.

Three of the five who were killed on election day died as a result of violence between the supporters or rival candidates. The two others were old women who died in the coastal town of Balteem when police fired tear gas canisters to disperse supporters of Nasserist candidate Hamin El-Sabahi. The Nasserist Party said the women died of suffocation, but the Interior Ministry said they were trampled to death by other demonstrators.

On election day in the town of Biyala in the governorate of Kafr Al-sheikh, a crowd hurled stones at a police station. Their action drew police fire, and a man was killed. In Giza a worker for an independent candidate was stabbed to death by a supporter of an NDP rival. On the same day, a man was killed in a gun battle between the supporters of two rival candidates from the same family in Sohag.

More deaths occurred on the following day, as the votes were being counted. In the town of Qalleen, also in the governorate of Kafr Al-Sheikh, about 2,000 supporters of NDP candidate Mohieddin El-Qattan, claiming the vote was rigged in favour of his opponent, independent Abdel-Aziz Doma, attempted to storm a police station. In the melee that followed, a man was killed and 21 injured, including six policemen.

In the town of Mit Ghamr in Daqahliya, a man was killed and four were wounded in a fight between the supporters of two rival independents, Mortada Mansour and Mohamed El-Nazer. The rioters set car tires ablaze along the Mit Ghamr-Mansoura highway, disrupting traffic. A large number of Central Security Force personnel arrived at the scene, and the situation was brought under control.

In the town of Beba, in the governorate of Beni Suef in central Egypt, NDP candidate Ali Abdallah shot and critically wounded his independent rival, Said Selim.

Even after preliminary results were announced, the violence continued. On Friday, supporters of two rival candidates in the town of Balyana in Sohag exchanged fire. As a result, a woman was killed and four others were injured. On the same day, a man was beaten to death in an argument over the outcome of the elections in Mit Ghamr.

On Saturday, two more lives were lost. In the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, a peasant was killed in a shootout between the supporters of two rival candidates in the second round. In Sohag, the son of a losing candidate killed his brother, allegedly for the latter's failure to support their father.

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