Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 246 9 - 15 November 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Helwan fumes

By Amira Howeidy

A huge pall of dust, spewing from the chimneys of cement factories, hangs over Helwan, an industrial suburb 30km south of Cairo. But the eye cannot miss the giant wooden scaffolding spanning the streets, on which two cabinet ministers, as well as other candidates, have hoisted the posters and banners of their election campaign.

Helwan is divided into two separate constituencies. Mohamed El-Ghamrawi, minister of state for military production, is running in the first constituency - where several military factories are located. Mohamed Ali Mahgoub, minister of Al-Awqaf (religious endowments) and a member of parliament for the past 16 years, is running in the second.

Ghamrawi's most formidable foe appears to be Abul-Ela Madi, a 37-year-old member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and assistant secretary-general of the Engineers' Syndicate. Madi, who is contesting elections for the first time, choose to run in Helwan because, he claimed, the Islamist trend has many supporters there. He is campaigning under the Brotherhood's slogan, "Islam is the solution".

In 1987, Gamal El-Sayed, then minister of military production, was defeated by another Islamist, Sheikh Youssef El-Badri. To avoid a repeat of this defeat, Madi claimed, all workers from military factories throughout Egypt have been registered as voters in Helwan. According to Madi, this is why El-Sayed carried the constituency in the 1990 elections.

Nevertheless, Madi sounded confident that he would win, although he complained of "unfair competition, and the spending of thousands of pounds". Madi has put up 40 sets of wooden scaffolding, compared to 1,200 for Ghamrawi.

But a source in Ghamrawi's office pointed out that all National Democratic Party candidates have the financial support of the ruling party. "This is common knowledge, but what about the others, the Islamists, where do they get their money from?"

Mahgoub also alleged that some of his rivals received financial support "from outside" which could influence the outcome of the election battle. One of Mahgoub's rivals is Mustafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Ahrar,, mouthpiece of the Liberal Party. The Liberals used to be members of an "Islamic alliance" that also included the Labour Party and the Muslim Brotherhood, but it is an open question whether this coalition is still alive.

Bakri's brother edits a local weekly newspaper, Voice of Helwan, which claims a circulation of 30,000. For the past six months, it has been campaigning against Mahgoub, accusing him of corruption.

Although Bakri complained of his inability to compete with Mahgoub's financial resources, he has organised numerous rallies in Helwan during the past two months. One of which was attended by Gen. (retr'd) Mohamed Fawzi, defence minister under the late President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, and Nasser's son, Khaled.

With the cement dust taking its toll on Helwan's inhabitants, fighting environmental pollution is the focal point of most candidates' campaign. Many depend on family and provincial loyalties, Bakri, who hails from the southern province of Qena, is confident that he will be supported by those Helwan residents who have their origins in Upper Egypt.

Others depend on the support of workers. One of them is Mustafa Abdel-Ghaffar, a worker himself, who is campaigning under the slogan "the voice of Helwan's workers". Abdel-Ghaffar, who was arrested during the 1989 industrial riots, has gained wide popularity with fellow workers as a defender of their rights.

"Thousands of workers who live here are threatened by the government's policy of privatisation," Abdel-Ghaffar said. "Hundreds of families may also become homeless if the state decides to dismantle the shanty towns where they live. These re some of the problems facing the deprived area of Helwan. I want the People's Assembly to take these people into consideration."

In the cool of the night, candidates organise marches by their supporters, which have remained peaceful to date. "I am surprised that the security forces have not intervened so far," Bakri said.

'Sword of Islam'

The Giza constituency of Al-Dokki has come to be known as the "constituency of contradictions". Although largely an upper middle class area, it also includes working-class neighbourhoods and shanty towns such as Awlad Allam and Deir Al-Nahia. The 15 parliamentary candidates have had to adapt accordingly: the language and approach likely to appeal to voters in chic Feeny Square would not go down so well in the working class neighbourhood of Mit Oqba.

Thousands of banners re hanging across the streets, promoting the different candidates. And, for illiterate voters, the election law stipulates that each candidate be allocated a different symbol to identify him, or her, on the ballot card. One of Dokki's two front-runners, Minister of Social Affairs Amal Osman, has been given the crescent moon as her electoral symbol. Her arch-rival, Muslim Brotherhood member Maamoun El-Hodeibi, campaigning under his group's "Islam the solution" slogan, has been given the sword. The joke doing the rounds of coffee shops in the area is that Hodeibi is contesting the election with his "sword of Islam".

With banners carrying Osman's name hanging over almost every street and square in both the affluent and deprived sections of the constituency, Hodeibi complained of what he described as "unfair" competition.

However, observers believe he has a fair chance of winning. He has roots in the area. Ibn Al-Walid Square, a well-known area of Dokki, is practically owned by the Hodeibi family, which has been living there for the past 30 years. The family property includes three tall buildings as well as several shops around the square. Hodeibi is also relying on Brotherhood support in some of Dokki's working-class neighbourhoods such as Bayn Al-Sarayat and Mit Oqba.

For the past 10 days, Hodeibi has been taking long walks with some of his supporters in those neighbourhoods. "I don't have an electoral programme," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. "All I have to say to the people is that Islam is the solution and that I promise to be honest with them."

And while the basic message remains the same, Hodeibi acknowledged that he has to tailor his words to his audience. "There are to two types of people in Dokki, those to whom I can make political statements, and the others, the masses, who have to be addressed differently, and in a less sophisticated way," he said.

Osman's campaign seems to be run on more organised lines. She has made repeated visits to densely populated areas, including one incorporating a Coca-Cola bottling plant, where she has been assured of the 2,000 votes of its workers, according to one of her aides. She has also visited the Scientific Research Centre and the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research, which together employ about 3,000 people, the aide said.

In past elections, Dokki managed only a meagre turnout of voters. But with this year's fierce rivalry between candidates, a larger number of residents are predicted to head for the polling stations on 29 November.

Sporting campaign

Many sports facilities, including Cairo Stadium, are located in Nasr City. It was only natural, therefore, for Abdel-Moneim Emara, chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, to run for election there. Emara, ca cabinet minister without portfolio, is confident of winning the youth vote. He calls Nasr City, which has 64,000 registered voters, a "youth constituency".

Emara's strongest rivals are Essam El-Fayoumi, a millionaire businessman and Adel Hussein, secretary-general of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party. Hussein is running or election for the first time and like other Islamists, is campaigning under the slogan "Islam is the solution".

And like other constituencies throughout the country, Nasr City has been flooded with banners hanging across the streets. But Hussein's are different. Blue in colour, with the writing in white, they announce that "Islam is the nation's demand" and caution voters that abstention from voting is sinful.

Hussein has been actively campaigning for over a month. He has visited local factories and toured the markets, talking to shoppers and shop-owners. But nevertheless his chances do not appear to be as good as Emara's or El-Fayoumi's.

El-Fayoumi owns a kebab restaurant in the eighth district of Nasr city, which has been providing free meals for nearly two months. Like Emara, he has put up an impressive number of banners, and it is alleged that he has spent as much as LE2 million on his campaign.

Meanwhile, Emara is reported to have registered 15,000 voters in Nasr City who are not residents of the constituency. As a result, the newspaper Al-Wafd, mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party, accused Emara of electoral fraud. Emara, who reached by filing a libel suit against the newspaper, said he did it in order to encourage young people to engage in civic action.

In statements published in Al-Ahram on Monday, Emara said: "I had promised to revive young people's interest in civic action through student unions and local councils. Why should I deprive them of the opportunity of electing members of the People's Assembly? This is not an accusation. If I could have found a half a million young people to participate in electing their representatives, I would have done it."

Emara added that the 15,000 voters whom he had registered in Nasr City "are not enough to ensure success in a constituency with a total of 64,000 registered voters".

As part of his campaign, Emara held a public rally last month at the Nasr City Youth Centre. It is also rumoured that the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, which he heads, has donated large amounts of money to the sports committees of trade unions based in Nasr City.

The local secretary of the Labour Party in Nasr City has reacted by filing a lawsuit with an administrative court, contesting Emara's nomination.

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