Final warning
A heated Judges' Club meeting results in a potential deadlock over supervising presidential elections. Mona El-Nahhas surveys the fallout
At a stormy general assembly on Friday, around 2,500 judges said they would not supervise the presidential elections in September if the government did not amend the judiciary law to guarantee their independence. "We are not going to be part of rigged elections," the judges said at the meeting, which took place at the downtown headquarters of the Cairo Judges' Club.
During parliamentary elections in 2000, "we only supervised the voting process, and not every single electoral stage", said Cairo Judges' Club Chairman Zakareya Abdel-Aziz. This time the judges want full supervision, with no Interior Ministry interference. They also want the draft law they submitted to parliament in 1991 to be passed into law before parliament goes into recess.
The judges want to be given sole responsibility over the entire elections process, from the preparation of voter lists to the announcement of election results. The lack of such full control in 2000 meant violations -- including multiple voting by ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) supporters, voting in the name of the dead, and preventing opposition supporters from getting to poll stations -- could not be fully prevented. The judges were only posted at major poll stations, and even then, they were unable to monitor what was going on outside.
Friday's four-hour meeting recommended that another general assembly be held on 2 September, during which judges will determine their final stance in light of the government's response to their demands. "If there is no response to our demands," Abdel-Aziz said, "we will have absolved ourselves of our civic responsibility to supervise the elections."
The judges also decided not to supervise the referendum -- scheduled for 25 May -- on amending Article 76 of the constitution. The amendment, which was endorsed by parliament last week despite widespread oppositional discontent, mandates a supervisory elections committee of five judges and five public figures. To guarantee neutrality, the judges want the committee to be judges-only.
The overall Judges' Club stance was met with anger by the Supreme Council of Judges, a government-appointed body whose very method of formation is one of the sore points in the draft law the judges want passed. The council issued a statement on Monday declaring that judges would supervise elections without setting any conditions for doing so. "Their supervision," the statement said, "is a sacred duty imposed by the law and the constitution". The statement named the Supreme Council of Judges as the only body responsible for defending judges' rights, and guaranteeing their independence.
Although brewing for years, the judges' demands were first raised in the more forceful "boycott" manner at an Alexandria Judges' Club general assembly last month. Since then, there has been a concerted government attempt to split the ranks that has succeeded in some places, and failed in others. In Tanta, when Judges' Club Chairman Azmi El-Bakri released a statement opposing the Alexandria general assembly's recommendations, several club members called it a unilateral stance, withdrew confidence from El-Bakri, and formed a temporary committee to administer the club's affairs until new council elections are held. A similar scene took place at the Menoufiya Judges' Club, where four council members resigned after their chairman went along with government demands.
The Justice Ministry, meanwhile, has been actively lobbying for the government, asking appointed heads of courts in different governorates to convince judges to supervise elections, promising to pay out extra bonuses, rumoured to be as high as LE10,000 per day. Describing the ministry's stance as "an improper attempt to pressure judges", Judge Ahmed Mekki told Friday's general assembly at the Cairo Judges' Club that "the executive authority was aiming at creating sedition among the judges".
Also fitting that viewpoint was the ministry's move to drop two articles from the judges' draft law -- those dealing with financial independence from the state, and oversight over judicial performance -- before resubmitting it to the Supreme Council of the Judiciary for approval. The assembly said the ministry had thus emptied the amendment of its most important guarantees for full judicial independence.
The judges' stance was backed by professional syndicates and human rights organisations. On Saturday, five human rights organisations hailed the judges for their honourable position, urging them to continue their march until they get their fair demands.
Insisting that the judges' stance was "not part of any opposition movement", Abdel- Aziz warned politicians not to use the judges' demands to serve their own interests. He also said the judges were adamantly against any international supervision of elections, an issue that was raised after a high-profile call for such a move by US President George Bush.
In the end, elections without judicial supervision would create a constitutional crisis, which may ultimately delay the voting process.
Caption: Judges at the general assembly
C a p t i o n 2: Judges at the general assembly
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/743/eg4.htm