The NDP will be fielding candidates against itself while dissident Wafdists break their party's boycott. Gamal Essam El-Din reports on the confusions surrounding the Shura Council elections After registration for the mid-term Shura Council elections closed on Sunday, National Democratic Party Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif announced the NDP would be fielding 109 candidates, 21 more than the 88 seats up for grabs in 67 districts. The elections will be held on 11 June. El-Sherif said 811 NDP members had asked to be nominated. "Out of this total the party selected 109 candidates, which means two official NDP candidates will be running in some districts." The NDP's list of official candidates includes wealthy businessmen such as Mohamed Farag Amer and Saad Ragheb, running in Alexandria, Zaki El-Sewedy and Hussein Abaza in Sharqiya, Mohamed El-Rawass and Ahmed Salama who are competing for the Cairo district of Sayeda Zeinab and Ahmed El-Sherif in Sohag. The list also includes public figures: Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi will run in Suez, Hani Seif El-Nasr, Secretary-General of the Social Fund for Development, in Fayoum, Samir Zaher, chairman of the Egyptian Football Federation, in Damietta, Ahmed Al-Amawy, former minister of manpower, in the Cairo district of Hadayeq Al-Qobba, and Saleh El-Shimi, chairman of the Shura Council's Health Committee, in the Delta Governorate of Sharqiya. The NDP list includes a single female candidate, Ibtessam Abu Rehab, running in Wadi Al-Gadid (New Valley). It does not include any Copts. Many NDP nominees whose applications were rejected may now stand as independents. "This will make the election primarily a battle between official and unofficial NDP candidates," says Amr Hashem Rabie, a political analyst with Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. He is baffled by the NDP's decision to nominate 109 candidates. "The party was supposed to nominate 88 candidates to fill 88 seats, allowing a single candidate to stand in each of the 88 constituencies." The decision to field more than this number, putting official candidates against one another in some constituencies reflects, he believes, the depth of divisions within NDP ranks. "The conflict between the old and new guard is going to be played out as candidates compete in the same districts," says Rabie. Add to this the fact that so many rejected NDP members will run as independents and, he predicts, the "result will be the NDP winning 99 or even 100 per cent of the seats in a pallid poll". According to Ministry of Interior statistics 794 candidates had officially registered by Sunday. "They include 109 NDP candidates and 80 opposition candidates. The rest will stand as independents," says Deputy Interior Minister Mohamed Rifaat Qomssan. He expects the number to fall significantly when the Supreme Election Commission (SEC) begins reviewing registration papers. The registration process also held surprises for the opposition. While the liberal-oriented Wafd Party kept its promise to boycott the poll, a dissenting group led by the party's deposed chairman Noaman Gomaa is fielding 20 candidates under the Wafd banner, a ploy, says Rabie, that will exacerbate divisions within the party. Gomaa said his candidates will run in Cairo, Giza, Aswan, Alexandria, Beni Sweif, Fayoum, Kafr Al-Sheikh and Qalioubiya. Iman, Gomaa's TV presenter daughter, will run in the Cairo district of Qasr Al-Nil and Zamalek. Three members of the leftist Tagammu Party have also opted to run on a private basis, two in Alexandria and one in Cairo. Seven minor opposition parties are also fielding 50 candidates between them. Rabie believes the chairmen of these parties were instructed to fight the elections by NDP officials keen to create an illusion of competition. "The chairmen of most of these parties are appointed members of the Shura Council will toe the NDP's line to keep their positions on the council," he says. In a press conference held on Sunday Saad El-Katatni, the Muslim Brotherhood's spokesman in the People's Assembly, said the security forces had tried to prevent the group's candidates from registering. Sayed Askar, Brotherhood MP for Gharbiya, reported that some group members seeking to register as candidates were arrested, including Hamza Sabri in Gharbiya's Kafr Al-Zayat district and Abdel-Maqsoud El-Imam in Menoufiya's Tala district. Forty Brotherhood members were arrested in the past four days including a 12-year-old school student, according to Al-Katatni. As a result, the Brotherhood has filed complaints with the Supreme Election Commission, asking it to facilitate registration measures for its candidates. Yet despite SEC Chairman Adel Andrawess ordering registration offices to comply with the request El-Katatni says security forces are still targeting Brotherhood candidates. "It shows how powerless the commission is. After last March's constitutional amendments the election," says El-Katatni, "will be completely controlled by the Interior Ministry." Some 15 Brotherhood members have been able to register, however, and they and will be campaigning under the slogan "Islam is the solution". While attempts to prevent Brotherhood candidates from registering reflect NDP fears that the banned Islamist group will attract mass popular support, their insistence on fighting under their usual sectarian slogan suggests, says Rabie, that "the group could, if anything, prove more divisive than the NDP." The 264-seat Shura Council, Egypt's upper consultative house, holds mid-term elections every three years, renewing half of its membership with each poll. In addition to the 88 contested seats, 44 seats will be filled by presidential appointees.
