A complex ballot
Although this month's Press Syndicate elections will take place as scheduled, the controversy surrounding them may be around for a while. Shaden Shehab reports
Elections for the Press Syndicate's chairman and 12 council seats are to take place on 25 June. The five-day nomination period for all posts began on Tuesday.
This year's elections, however, are awash in complications. The announcement that the syndicate's current chairman, Ibrahim Nafie -- Al- Ahram's chairman of the board and editor-in- chief -- could run again, even though Press Syndicate Law 76 of 1976 stipulates that the chairman is elected every two years for a maximum of two consecutive terms, was greeted by many journalists with relief.
Nafie -- who has been chairman since 1999 (he was also previously chairman for two consecutive terms from 1993-1997) -- is being allowed to run this year due to a syndicate judicial committee's decision to implement several administrative court rulings calling for the cancellation of the elections for chairman that took place in 1999 and 2001.
These rulings were the result of lawsuits filed since 1997 by three people who were trying to become members of the syndicate, but were refused because, according to Yehia Qallash, general-secretary of the Press Syndicate, they "did not meet the criteria of the Press Syndicate law." Fayez Zayed, one of the three, did not have a university degree, and Youssriya Nasser and Hanaa Mustafa, could not be considered professional journalists because they were only briefly employed by Al-Wafd, mouthpiece of the Wafd Party, and were dismissed even before they had the right to become syndicate members. The association's rules stipulate that journalists must be appointed at their respective publications for at least a year in the case of mass communication graduates, and two years for other graduates.
Nasser, Mustafa and Zayed won several administrative court rulings mandating that they be allowed to join the syndicate, but to no avail. It was only their most recent legal victory, earlier this year, in which the court also ruled that the elections that the three missed -- since they would have been voting members of the syndicate had the association implemented the previous rulings -- were null and void.
This time, the syndicate decided to accept the court's ruling, using it as a pretext to hold the new elections. According to Ragai El-Merghani, the syndicate's vice president, "the current council's membership term expires on 28 June, and the chairman's term expires on 3 July, and thus it was necessary to hold the elections so that the council would not be left without a board and chairman."
The decision to conduct the elections at the specified time came after Hanaa El-Mansi, chairman of the South Cairo Court and the judicial committee for professional syndicate elections, announced on Sunday that the committee demands that the Press Syndicate conduct the elections in accordance with the aforementioned court rulings.
Nafie's greatest achievements at the syndicate include his success in leading journalists' opposition to Law 93 of 1995, which stiffened penalties for publication offences, which resulted in the law being repealed in 1996 and replaced by a new press law. He is also praised for the construction of the syndicate's fancy new high-tech headquarters. Many journalists also see Nafie as the best choice; because of a shortage of other candidates who could both support principles of press freedom and journalists' rights while remaining on good terms with the government.
Meeting with Al-Ahram journalists on Sunday, Nafie seemed hesitant to run again. "I want your opinion on whether I should nominate myself," he said. Journalists assured him that they were relieved that he was able to run for the post again. Warning that the next phase is crucial for both the region and Egypt, Nafie then urged the journalists to "choose their new syndicate council with care. We need a strong and united syndicate", he said.
Although the court cases involving Nasser, Mustafa and Zayed were the catalyst for the upcoming elections, all indications are that the three will still not be allowed to join the syndicate. El-Merghani said, "We have another ruling, from the High Administrative Court -- from December 2001 -- that confirms that administrative courts do not have the jurisdiction to rule on syndicate election-related problems, because the Press Syndicate law stipulates that to be the business of the Court of Cassation."
El-Merghani said that Nasser, Mustafa and Zayed "will still not be included in the electoral lists". He also affirmed that the syndicate council and chairman's decisions over the past four years would not be invalidated.
Even after the elections take place, the matter may become even more complicated. The Press Syndicate has contested the administrative court ruling with the High Administrative Court, which is scheduled to give its final ruling on 9 September. If that court quashes the lower administrative court ruling, the elections later this month will be nullified. El-Merghani predicted that this would indeed happen, based on the December 2001 ruling confirming, as above, that the administrative court does not have the jurisdiction to rule on syndicate election-related problems.
In that case, Nafie would again be ineligible to run because of his previous consecutive terms.
In the meantime, the Press Syndicate issued a statement underlining its position. "The respect of the syndicate for judicial rulings is matched by its duty to protect the membership list from intruders." Qallash said, "the syndicate was not unjust when it denied Zayed, Nasser and Mustafa's memberships. If they become members of the syndicate, this will open the door for anyone else to become a member as well. It will also mean that we are ignoring the Press Syndicate law -- and if we do that in this case, the law will not be respected again."
According to Qallash, "the matter is crucial and complicated and everything is possible in the coming days."
C a p t i o n : Nafie in a meeting with Al-Ahram journalists on Sunday
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 5 -11 June 2003 (Issue No. 641)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/641/eg6.htm