Problems on hold

The final results of the parliamentary elections held on 8 April have yet to be announced. The number of seats secured by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) thus remains unknown; relevant figures cited in state-owned newspapers are far from accurate while opposition newspapers offer contradictory information. As for reports by NGOs that monitored the elections, they cite distressful details.
As far as turnout is concerned, state-owned newspapers cite a 60 per cent turnout in North Sinai and 30 per cent in the New Valley, but remain silent on the rate in Cairo, Alexandria and the bigger governorates in the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt. NGOs said the turnout was anywhere between three and five per cent in polling stations for men and nearly nil for women. In densely populated governorates such as Menoufiya, local security apparatuses managed to secure the seats for the NDP candidates without even holding the elections, through forcing competitors to withdraw their nomination. The reaction by state-owned newspapers to these appalling facts was to hail the resounding performance of the NDP which won 100 per cent of the seats in 172 municipalities (5000 seats).
In Qalyubiya, the ruling party won 98.6 per cent of the seats. State-owned newspapers said that in Minya, Aswan, Matrouh, Kafr al-Sheikh, and Suez, the NDP attained a sweeping victory, winning 90-99 per cent of the seats. NGOs and opposition newspapers said that polling stations were void of voters. One NGO described the situation as: “The facts on the ground surpassed all expectations, with political and security apparatuses hindering people from running for the elections and voters from casting their ballots. Egyptians were denied the right to change their reality and the right to express themselves.”
Following are a couple of first-hand testimonies regarding the elections, and the consequent bitterness that set in.
Nabih Ayoub Ishaq, a small businessman and former member of the municipality council of Naga Hamadi in Upper Egypt, says: “Over the years I have managed to win the hearts and minds of Muslims and Christians alike in the area where I live. I ran in the NDP run-off to the elections and gained the support of three MPs and the party’s secretary-general of the governorate. I was the sole Coptic nominee and scored third among 14 candidates. Since the party was fielding 12 candidates I was sure I would be nominated. When the final candidate list was announced following a security vet, however, my name went missing. I asked for an explanation, but nobody could offer me any. It appears the NDP could not stand the presence of one Copt among 102 candidates in Naga Hamadi”.
Nash’at Abul-Kheir who heads Watani’s office in Alexandria was prevented from even submitting the required papers. “First, Mr Abul-Kheir says, I applied for my criminal record, which is usually issued the following day to an application. Yet investigations took ten days and a policeman came to my house and asked why I was running as an independent and not with the NDP, to which I insisted I was indeed independent. When I finally obtained my criminal record, I headed to the security authority office. Surprisingly, security vehicles and policemen prevented anybody from entering the place and nomination papers were presented in a tent outside the building. When the policeman saw my ID card, he said my address did not exist. Then I was again asked why I was not running with the NDP. I said I believed my opportunity as an independent was better and preferred not to go through a nomination battle within the NDP. I was told to return two days later to submit my papers but, after four failed attempts the security official took me aside and said: ‘You are a respectable individual so I advise you to give up this struggle. We are merely following instructions from higher up.’”
So we are before a policy of drying up the source. With 52,000 seats on the national level, how many of these did the NDP fill with women or Copts? Again, we see a scene of the absurd unfolding before our eyes.

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