Hamdeen Sabahi struck an optimistic note in his concession speech after losing the presidential elections by a wide margin, securing just 757,511 votes, 3.9 per cent of the total. Surrounded by young men and women who were the backbone of his campaign, he promised to continue the struggle for democracy, social justice and the goals of the 25 January, 2011 Revolution. Following the Presidential Election Commission's (PEC) surprise decision to extend voting in the presidential elections for a day Sabahi faced pressure from many in his campaign team to withdraw from the race. The extension, they said, violated the rules the PEC had announced weeks in advance and, following early reports of a low turnout, was an attempt to engineer a more overwhelming victory for Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi.
At a meeting that lasted into the dawn of Thursday, 29 May, Sabahi told his young supporters he would not withdraw since to do so would offer the Muslim Brotherhood a chance to question the legitimacy of the electoral process. In his concession speech Sabahi said he accepted his defeat, but did not accept the figures declared by the PEC. They were, he said, “an insult to the intelligence of Egyptians”.
That a majority of voters were convinced Al-Sisi would win contributed to the shockingly low turnout on the first day of the voting. The figures produced a state of hysteria in the private television channels that served as Al-Sisi's cheerleaders. Star presenters made non-stop appeals to the public to go and vote. Some accused their audiences of not appreciating the dangers facing Egypt or and the role Al-Sisi had played in saving the country. Late on Monday Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb announced that the second day of voting, 27 May, would be a holiday for public employees, and offered free tickets on trains and public buses for anyone who wanted to return to their hometowns to vote.
“The ballot was turned it into a referendum on Al-Sisi rather than a competitive election,” says Mustafa Abu-Hagar, a member of Sabahi's campaign team. “We said from the beginning that we would not take part in a charade. Many young people in the campaign urged Sabahi to withdraw. He said he would not because he didn't want to cause more instability and chaos.”
Sabahi's stand has alienated both his supporters and critics. Young revolutionaries who backed him claim his only interest was to keep his political career afloat. Supporters of his rival, Al-Sisi, were furious of Sabahi's questioning of the PEC's figures, which placed turnout at 47 per cent and gave Sisi a total close to the combined votes won by Mohamed Morsi and his rival, Ahmed Shafik, in the June 2012 presidential runoff.
Before delivering his speech on Thursday Sabahi met with the leaders of the handful of political parties — Al-Dostour, The Popular Socialist Alliance, Al-Karama Party, Al-Adl, his own Popular Trend and a few youth movements — that had supported his campaign. They agreed to form an opposition alliance to fight for democracy and social justice.
“We have no option but to continue working together,” says Mohamed Sami, leader of the Karama Party which Sabahi helped found. “There is a clear attempt to reproduce the policies of Hosni Mubarak's 30 year rule and replicate the composition of Mubarak-era parliaments.”
Sami was referring to the draft parliamentary election law presented to the government this week. It specifies that the great majority of seats be contested by independent candidates, with just 20 per cent reserved for those on party lists.
Parties that supported Sabahi issued a statement a week ago slamming the draft law for undermining newly created political parties which are struggling to find sufficient funds to keep their few offices open. To skew elections so heavily in favour of independents, they said, favoured wealthy candidates, those who enjoy traditional family and tribal ties, members of the Brotherhood and former members of the Mubarak's now dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP). To compound the woes of opposition parties, the draft law rejected any proportional distribution of seats.
Besides coordination in upcoming elections, parties that supported Sabahi say they will work towards amending the Protest Law which has been used to send dozens of their members to jail.
“We fear for the future of democracy and human rights in Egypt,” says Waleed Gibril, a member of Al-Dostour's Higher Committee. “That is why the parties that took part in the 25 January Revolution have no option but to work together and defend its goals.”
