Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 251 14 - 20 December 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Challenging the results

By Shaden Shehab

Administrative courts in Cairo and other governorates are considering some 114 candidates who sought to have their election results annulled because of alleged fraud. The Supreme Administrative Court is expected to announce its decision in about 100 cases on Monday, while 14 other challenges are being considered by lower courts.

On the eve of the 6 December election runoffs, administrative courts ruled that the results of the first round in more than 50 constituencies were null and void. But the government went ahead with the second round, after filing appeals with the Supreme Administrative Court. In the following days, the number of cases had swelled to more than 100.

As the litigation continued, opinions were divided as to whether the administrative courts had the jurisdiction to consider the complaints. The "state commissioners' authority", an advisory body to the administrative courts, opined that the complaints fell outside the courts' mandate. The only authority which can rule on the legality of a deputy's membership of parliament is parliament itself, the state commissioners' authority said.

Fawzia Abdel-Sattar, former chairperson of parliament's legislative committee, agreed, predicting that the Supreme Administrative Court will rule that it does not have the jurisdiction to consider the complaints "because this is the business of parliament itself".

Even if the Supreme Court declared the results of the disputed constituencies invalid, its decision cannot strip a parliamentary deputy of his Assembly membership, she said. The second round runoffs were perfectly legal, she added, because the government had filed appeals with the Supreme Administrative Court, which meant that the orders of the lower courts should not be implemented.

But Kamal Abul-Magd, another legal expert, said that if the Supreme Court ordered the cancellation of those election results, "then the government should respect the court order and enforce it". If the government refuses to do so, the only thing left for a defeated candidate who won a court order in his favour is to file a lawsuit with an administrative court, demanding financial compensation, Abul-Magd said. In past cases, the court has ordered the government to pay candidates as much as LE100,000 in compensation.

Abul-Magd conceded, however, that it was possible to make a legal argument that the Assembly alone had the authority to rule on the validity of a deputy's membership. In this case, litigants should file their complaints to parliament, which will forward them to the Court of Cassation for investigation.

The Constitution "makes it the responsibility of the Court of Cassation to ascertain the legality of a deputy's membership of parliament," agreed Abdel-Sattar. Candidates who wish to challenge election results have to do so by submitting a report to parliament explaining the reasons for their challenge within 15 days of the announcement of the results.

The court will investigate the case and send a report to parliament on its findings within a 90-day period, she said. This report will be put to a vote; a two-thirds majority is needed to drop the membership of any deputy.

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