Problems on hold

The weird policies adopted by the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the security apparatuses in order to exclude whoever they wished from contesting the local council elections are very obvious in the bitter complaints I received from a number of those who were so excluded. I preferred not to tackle their cases until the elections were over, but now it is time to open these critical files.
The run-up to the elections proved there is considerable awareness among the marginalised sectors of society: the women, Copts and young people. It is obvious they wish to break through their isolation and seek more active participation, but they were nevertheless savagely blotted out of the political arena. Following are samples of the absurd electoral scenarios.
Amany Gamal Habib Girgis from the east Delta town of Zagazig, Sharqiya, is a journalist in the media office of Sharqiya governorate, and a member in the Women Secretariat Office of the NDP there. She enjoys a good reputation among her colleagues and was commended by NDP secretary-general in Sharqiya Ezzat Ismaïl. “Since I believe in positive participation and, as a woman, aspire to play a role in the decision making process in my country, I nominated myself for the elections” Ms Girgis wrote. However, she was stunned to find herself excluded from the party’s candidate lists, without any explanation. “I was also shocked when I knew that a Christian colleague, Mr Farouk Nicola, was also excluded. The NDP candidate lists in my constituency, which includes nine electoral units, was totally free of any Christian candidate, despite declarations by NDP officials that the ‘Christian Element’ was weakly represented.”
Such flagrant intentional marginalisation of women and Christians begs an explanation: Are all the glittering slogans of citizenship rights and balanced representation mere tranquillisers?
As for Nessim Sadeq Qelada of Kafr al-Sheikh in the north Delta, he nominated himself in the Bandar al-Ryad constituency and, in the run-up to the elections, earned the votes of Muslim as well as Christian party members, and scored highest among all the Christian candidates. When the final candidate list was drawn, however, Qelada’s name was conspicuously absent as were the names of all the other Christian nominees. “What happened after I earned the highest votes? Mr Qelada wrote. Where are those citizenship rights so highly propagated by the Policies Committee of the NDP? Where are the President’s assertions that all citizens have equal rights? It appears the NDP only opens its arms to Christian members as long as they do not venture beyond the limits of ordinary party cadres. Once they aspire to represent the party in elections, they are pulled back. How can we feel we are first class citizens when we are constantly pushed into the shadow?”
The third letter I received was signed by 42 Copts from the village of Temsahiya in Assiut, Upper Egypt. “Copts form one third of the village population, the letter says. We enjoy good relations with the Muslims, but have nevertheless been excluded from any NDP representation in the local council elections. The candidate selection process was prejudiced and blatantly violated all the citizenship rights slogans regularly blared out by the NDP. Even Hanna Shehata Massoud, who earned the highest votes in the run-up to the elections, did not escape this fate. This despite the fact that all the Copts in the village are members in the NDP. Have the Copts become a “banned” group?”
These are sad stories in the election the NDP has almost monopolised, winning 70 per cent of the seats by default. Are we being prepared for a scene in a one-actor play in an absurd theatre show?

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