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Egyptian opposition unlikely to challenge ruling party in Shura Council elections
![[KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images] After the elections, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will appoint the remaining one-third of the Shura Council.](/cocoon/meii/images/2010/05/11/100511-feature-2-photoAP.jpg) [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images] After the elections, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will appoint the remaining one-third of the Shura Council. |
With partial elections for the Egyptian Shura Council scheduled for June 1st, it appears the main opposition parties and the banned Muslim Brotherhood will not be putting up much of a fight against the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
The three major opposition parties—Wafd, Tagammu and the Nassirist Party—announced they were running in the elections, but were unable to form an alliance against the NDP. (The Democratic Front Party is planning a boycott.)
On Sunday (May 9th), the Higher Elections Commission stopped taking applications after receiving bids from more than 400 candidates for the 88 seats up for grabs in 67 districts of 27 provinces.
The Wafd Party announced it would field 10 candidates in the elections. The Democratic Progressive Unionist Party (Tagammu) is fielding a total of 12 candidates in the provinces of Helwan, Alexandria, Bahira, Qena and Qalubia. The Arab Nassirist Party will put run only two candidates.
The Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt, said 20 of its leaders would run in the Shura Council elections as independents, hoping to win some seats. It did not get any seats in the last elections.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Party announced the selection of 88 candidates running in the elections in 87 districts. Safwat Al-Sharif, Secretary General of the party and Chairman of the Shura Council, said Saturday in a press statement that the party’s selections came in light of results of public opinion surveys and primaries in areas where the party intends to contest the elections.
The Shura Council in Egypt is composed of 264 members, two-thirds of whom are elected directly by secret ballot—at least half of whom must be workers and peasants. The president appoints the remaining third.
The Egyptian Constitution stipulates that any party seeking to contest the presidential elections must obtain at least one seat in the Shura Council.
Dr. Nabil Luka Bibawi, a member of the General Secretariat of the National Democratic Party, told Al-Shorfa the Shura Council elections are important as they occur amidst political activity that will continue through the parliamentary elections held next October as well as presidential elections next year.
The National Democratic Party primaries took more than 20 days and were heavily contested among leaders to obtain spots on the ticket. The party refused to announce the names of winners for spots on the party lists in order to avoid internal disputes that could lead to some party members to run as independents.
"The turnout of National Democratic Party members to participate in the elections through the internal electoral conventions indicates the party’s commitment to the principles of fairness and transparency in the selection of members and the practice of democracy within the party before exercising it on election day with the rest of the political parties," Bibawi said.
Isam Shiha, a member of the Higher Commission of the Wafd Party, said that Wafd is confident its candidates can win elections in the 10 districts it is contesting.
He explained that it would be a rehearsal for the party leadership before the next People’s Assembly elections, in which there would be strong competition between the National Democratic Party and opposition parties.
Opposition forces said they were concerned with the limited oversight provided to the judiciary in the elections. Dr. Diaa Rashwan, Vice President of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Shorfa that the absence of full judicial supervision over the elections would reduce the chances of fairness.
He said the Shura Council elections do not receive wide attention as a result of the limited powers vested in it, but the coming presidential elections give it particular importance this year.
International monitoring of the elections remains a point of contention within the National Democratic Party. Dr. Hossam Badrawi, a member of the Policies Secretariat, said in press statements he welcomed international monitoring of the elections in addition to strong local monitoring by civil society groups.
Dr. Amr Hashem Rabie, an expert on political parties, said support for the idea of international monitoring of the elections comes from a small number of leaders within the National Democratic Party while the majority opposes the idea. He said an official has yet to issue a single statement responding to these invitations to invite international observers.
Reader Comments
Replacing such an unsuccessful government is in the interest of Egypt. This government has burdened the Egyptians for more than thirty years. The opposition parties must move seriously, despite all the governmental terrorism, oppression and killing that targets them. Otherwise, the situation in Egypt will continue to decline and the country will be on the edge of collapse.
The Egyptian government is among the most dictatorial governments; it oppresses and imposes restrictions on the Egyptian people and persecutes them in different ways in order to maintain power. It refuses to leave office for those who deserve it and who want to serve the Egyptians. The fact that President Hosni Mubarak and his government resort to extending the Emergency Law is another testimony to the brutality of this regime. They fear holding transparent elections, free of manipulations, and they also stifle the opposition so that it can’t move freely and express its opinions. The government threatens the opposition with the Emergency Law, which muzzles them. As the government can arrest and put on trial any person in the name of this law, the accusation is already pre-established, which is “destabilizing the security.”
It is true that Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, is one of the longest-serving presidents in the region. He took office at a young age, and he is now in his last days. However, Hosni Mubarak was not the right person to lead an important Arab state like Egypt, The Mother of the World, as it is called. This is because this man has not developed Egypt much, nor has he improved its economic conditions. The Egyptian citizens are still enduring difficulties, and the charity organizations are still filled with people. Also, there are housing and marriage problems with respect to the youths, in addition to the problem of drugs and hashish that many in government positions are known to deal in. Hosni could be one of them. Egypt is a very big country with very many people, and no one can stifle their voices and their freedom of expression. And this is what is happening now, since the Egyptian society is going through a state of anxiety, horror, fear and a lack of real democracy. Hosni Mubarak has deprived this country of this type of environment, and it has turned it into a country that is ruled by a single individual and his ruling party, and no other person is allowed to oppose or found a party or a new youth or student movement, or a movement by intellectuals, in order to change the conditions in the country and to compete against the ruling party. There are arrests, imprisonment and the torture of young people taking place on a continual basis in Egypt, and they are made to confess to crimes that they never committed, or even they did, it would not constitute a crime. They did not take up arms in order to fight against the government militarily. [comment was truncated due to the length]
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