A Nasserist defeated his government-supported rival for the post of syndicate chairman, and leftists and Islamists now dominate the council. What does it all mean? Shaden Shehab investigates For the past two decades, the government's candidate has consistently managed to secure the Press Syndicate's chairman post. This time was different. In voting that took place on 30 July, government candidate and prominent Al- Ahram columnist Salah Montasser lost a fierce race to Akhbar Al-Youm's Galal Aref, a prominent Nasserist writer. Out of a total Press Syndicate membership of 4,332, 3,328 cast their votes: 1,785 went to Aref and 1,415 to Montasser; with a mere 55 votes going to the other four candidates for the chairman's post. As for the 68 candidates vying for 12 council seats, Islamists and leftists won eight, with the remaining four going to independent, mostly supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party. On election day, the syndicate's Cairo headquarters was plastered with campaign banners. Armoured personnel carriers were parked outside while a number of police officers stood on alert. As voters made their way from the building's entrance to the rooms with the transparent glass ballet boxes, the candidates and those supporting them desperately tried to secure last minute votes, by distributing flyers and small gifts. The floor was hardly visible from all the thrown away flyers. Although most candidates were smiling, the tension was clear; these were the fiercest elections the syndicate had seen in years. After it was all over, the major question on everyone's mind was: Why did the government's candidate, Montasser, lose this time? "Simply because he is the government's candidate," said Salah Eissa, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Al-Qahira. "It is not a question of rejecting Montasser, or choosing Aref -- journalists, like other segments of society, are sending a message of rejection to the government," Eissa said. Mustafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly newspaper Al-Osbou', agreed that, "in general, people are thirsty for change of any kind. People are beginning to lose patience in the government's unfulfilled promises." He noted that the same "message had been delivered twice already -- at the Bar Association and the Judges' Club". Government candidates lost the race for the chairman's seat of the Bar Association (to Nasserist Sameh Ashour) in 2001, and the Judges Club (to independent Zakariya Abdel-Aziz) last year. Montasser was frank about being the government's candidate, announcing during his campaign that Prime Minister Atef Ebeid had agreed to grant the press syndicate LE4 million for its pension fund. However, on the eve of the elections, Finance Minister Medhat Hassanein told reporters that no such amount had been allocated. Moreover, Montasser obtained the assurances of several press organisations regarding a salary increase amounting to LE40 per month, beginning in July, and "regardless of the election results", he had said. That promise may have actually hurt Montasser, since many journalists were humiliated by what they considered the "paltry" sum being discussed. Others saw the offer as being akin to a bribe. "Journalists are not beggars to be thrown a few pounds by the government in order to elect its candidate," said a journalist who preferred to remain anonymous. Montasser also faced a lot of heat for having twice visited Israel, thus breaking a Press Syndicate regulation prohibiting journalists from doing just that. According to prominent columnist Fahmy Howeidy writing in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, those two visits were what harmed Montasser most. "His justification was weak and unconvincing... continually [putting] him on the defensive," Howeidy wrote. Montasser had told journalists that his visits were meant to gather information and learn more about Israeli society. When Aref's victory was announced, dozens of journalists shouted, "No to normalisation!" repeating the chant when Montasser took the stand to thank the journalists who voted for him, and offer his congratulations to Aref. Since most journalists were also quite aware that the 73-year-old Montasser has never been active in Press Syndicate affairs, his unexpected interest in the chairman's post was not all that welcome. Howeidy also chalked up "press organisations [being] fed up with Al-Ahram's hegemony", as another point against Montasser. "After Nafie spent 12 years [not consecutively] as chairman, [Montasser appeared to be] a representation of a form of inheritance which is dominant in the Arab world," wrote Howeidy. Therefore, he said, "many wanted to elect a chairman from outside the Al-Ahram family in order to rotate [power] and break the monopoly." Aref's credibility was enhanced via direct comparison to Montasser's perceived "shortcomings". Aref had not visited Israel, and had always been involved in Press Syndicate affairs (both as a council member and would-be chairman). Although he is from the Akhbar Al-Youm family, Aref does not hold a leading post there, and is thus not considered a major player in inter-organisational conflicts. The way the elections are conducted makes it relatively easy to determine how press organisations as a whole voted. Al-Ahram's ballot boxes revealed that 663 had voted for Montasser and 280 for Aref. All the other organisations and newspapers -- including pro- government ones like Akhbar El-Youm, Dar El-Tahrir and the Middle East News Agency -- gave a majority of their votes to Aref. The results of the council elections were no less surprising. Four of the members are leftists: Gamal Fahmy, the managing editor of the mouthpiece of the Nasserist Party El-Arabi; Ibrahim Mansour of the weekly magazine Rose El-Youssef; Ahmed El-Naggar of Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies; and Yehia Qallash of El-Gomhouriya. Four members are Islamists -- Mohamed Abdel-Quddous of Akhbar El-Youm, Salah Abdel-Maqsoud of Liwaa El-Islam weekly magazine, and Mamdouh El-Walie and Mohamed Kharaga of Al-Ahram. It is noteworthy that El-Walie, Abdel-Quoddous and Abdel- Maqsoud got more votes than Aref. The four other seats went to pro-government candidates -- Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi's Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Hegazi, Ahmed Moussa of Al-Ahram, and Yasser Rizk and Rifaat Rashad of Al- Akhbar. Although eight outgoing council members re-nominated themselves, only Qallash, Abdel-Maqsoud, Hegazi and Rizk made it to the new council. "It is an obvious indication of the popularity of Islamists and leftists, and the fact that they know how to play the election game so well," Bakri said. Others attributed the results to reports of a "coalition" that had been formed between the two groups. Though not all the leftists who won seats on the council are Nasserists, the latter group are said to have concluded an electoral deal with the Muslim Brotherhood. On election day, Islamist and Nasserist candidates were "secretly" distributing flyers with lists of candidates written on them. In both cases, the candidates were a mix of leftists and Islamists. Not only Nasserists have been wooing the Islamist vote, however. Nasserist Aref as well as government-supporters Montasser and Moussa paid visits to Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Ma'moun El-Hodeibi ahead of the poll. "We listened to each other's point of views, but no promises or coalitions were made," El-Hodeibi told the Weekly. He did say, however, that, "the government made a mistake when it chose Montasser, since nobody who has visited Israel can ever become Press Syndicate chairman." According to Eissa, "the same Nasserist- Islamist coalition took place in the Bar Association elections, and indeed the chairman is a Nasserist and the council is dominated by Islamists along with a number of independent figures." Speaking on a television talk show, former Press Syndicate chairman and Dar Al-Hilal board chairman, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, said that roughly 350 press syndicate members are Islamists and almost 400 are leftists. Coalition or not, the first Press Syndicate council meeting on Monday was not all smooth sailing. As the council voted on its various posts, Abdel- Quddous told the Weekly that, "the post of secretary-general and treasurer generated controversy, which was quelled by the voting." He explained that there was an argument over whether Walie, who won the most votes in the general elections, should become the secretary-general, until the council itself voted for Qallash, who had held the post for the past eight years. Walie became treasurer, Hegazi first deputy chairman, Abdel-Maqsoud second deputy chairman, Rizk assistant secretary- general, and Moussa assistant treasurer. Observers expect Aref's mission to be quite a challenge. "He promised many things, and if he does not fulfill most of them, he will lose the journalists' trust," Eissa said. Amongst other things, Aref promised to increase salaries and amend the press law to cancel those articles that stipulate imprisonment for publication offences. "The government is likely to refuse his demands and will try to make journalists regret their choice," noted Eissa. "Without the support of the general assembly and a united front, he will not have a chance." Moreover, argued Eissa, "big press organisations will probably refuse the syndicate's interference in their affairs when it comes to an increase in salaries, while other newspapers are already barely able to pay salaries in the first place." Aref's major challenge will probably be proving to journalists that their fears regarding the syndicate ending up either frozen, or prey to the whims of partisan politics, are baseless. There are also fears that the legal turmoil of the past few months -- involving repeated rulings and appeals regarding internal syndicate business -- will again rear its ugly head, bringing with it the possibility of a re-election.
