Democratic Palestine : 4 (ص 34)
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- Democratic Palestine : 4 (ص 34)
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panied by its alliance with the Muslim
Brotherhood which represents reactio-
nary segments of the population. Thus
the elections gave birth to a two-party
system which maintained the ruling
party in the majority and allowed the
Wafd limited representation as the
«legal opposition».
From the beginning, Mubarak pro-
claimed his commitment to the princi-
ples of honor, honesty and decency in
the electoral process. The reality of the
campaign and voting process rep-
resented something quite foreign to:
decency and honesty.
Violence and coercion
The election process this year was
accompanied by many violent events. In
the city of Luxor, members of the ruling
party killed Mrs. Nimat Hussein, the
Socialist Labor Party candidate. In Deir
Shbein, the wife of the National Progres-
sive Unionist Party candidate, Ahmed
Barakat, was seriously wounded by sup-
porters of the ruling party who thus pre-
vented NPUP representatives from
entering the voting centers to observe
the voting process. In the eastern pro-
vince of the Nile, the body of Hussein
Murad of the Wafd Party was found; he
had been kidnapped on May 27th by
supporters of the ruling party.
In the city of Giza, supporters of the
ruling party prevented the representa-
tives of the Wafd Party from entering
three election centers and terrorized the
voters. This led to the injury of three
Wafd members, who were taken to hos-
pitals.
These incidents took place when
police authorities had received strict
instructions, reportedly from Mubarak,
to stay neutral. This shows how the rul-
ing authorities benefited from the state
apparatus. The role of the police was
limited to protecting the election polls,
and they had orders not to counter the
violence of the supporters of the ruling
party against the opposition parties. Lutfi
al Khouli, a candidate of the National
Progressive Unionist Party, stated on
election day, «When we Say free elec-
34
tions, we must put the word free in
paranthesis».
Similarly, the — state-controlled
media was used by the ruling party. On
election day, the government «national»
papers urged the voters to vote for the -
ruling party. Musa Sabri of A/ Akhbar
directly asked people not to vote for the
National Progressive Unionist Party and
the Wafd, calling the first «communist»
and the second «extremist, that
attempts to bring us back to the old
days».
A high rate of abstentionism was a
feature of this year’s elections. Accord-
ing to the numbers announced by the
Ministry of Interior. only 43 percent of
those eligible actually voted. This means
that more than half of those eligible to
vote stayed away. Proceeding from this
point, no one can be fooled about the
legitimacy of these elections of the
assembly which is supposed to repre-
sent the people.
In several areas, thousands of
people were not allowed to vote. Accord-
ing to Al Ahali, the organ of the NPUP,
«tens of thousands of voters were kept
from voting in several places when they
did not find their names on the election
lists. Upon the persistance of some
people in searching for their names with
different committees, it was discovered
that the election lists given to the com-
mittees were different from the
announced ones.» In Sabra el Khanina,
a workers’ district, Lutfi al Khouli
announced that 70,000 names on the
election list were those of dead people.
This is 23 percent of those registered in
that district.
From the results announced by the
Ministry of Interior, it was clear that inthe
capital and other big cities, 25% of the
eligible voters voted, while in the rural
areas, 61% voted. This calls into ques-
tion the practice of ruling party members
who supervised the elections commit-
tees in those areas, because it is well
known that illiteracy, political apathy,
disease and poverty are more wide-
spread in rural areas than in the cities of —
Egypt. It is unthinkable that a higher per-
cent of the rural population votes.
The authorities can claim that they
allowed a reasonable portion of the
opposition to sit in the People’s Assem-
bly and that they allowed freedom of
expression prior to and during the elec-
tion process, insinuating that this is real
democracy. But the practices of the rul-
ing party clearly show the fallacy of
these claims. A great feeling of disen-
chantment was spread among. all
opposition parties due to the results and
practices by the National Democratic
Party. The Wafd Party claims that the
ruling authorities prevented them from
winning more seats in the Council.
Fouad Serrajeddin, leader of the Wafd,
called the elections «the funeral of
democracy». He added, «What is called
the democratic experience in Egypt has
failed and will have bad effects on the
people.»
Al Ahali, the NPUP paper,
described this process as the ruling
party telling the people that democratic
change is an illusion and our rulers
speak in the language of violence. It
went on to say in its editorial; «Some
people thought our rulers became aware
of the lessons of September, 1981,
when Sadat was killed, but it seems that
they learned only to change their tac-
tics.»
Therefore, there is no real change
in Egypt. The elections proved that the
same ruling class will remain in power.
The representatives of the Egyptian
working people are deprived of rep-
resentation in the People’s Assembly
which means the continuation of Camp
David and the open door policy initiated
by Sadat and continued by President
Mubarak. This also means the continua-
tion of instability and the economic crisis
that entails high prices and a low stan-
dard of living for the Egyptian masses.
Inspite of the left forces’ losses in
these elections, they were able to use
their election campaign to spread their
program among a broader section of the
population. This is a necessary step to
mobilize the people of Egypt on a
national program and prepare them for
the next national and class battles in the
coming stage. @ - هو جزء من
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