Lawyers wary of sudden 'liberation'

ByMona El-Nahhas
After a five-year-long judicial sequestration, the quest for elections at the Bar Association has taken on the feel of a liberation movement. While the holy grail of this quest is to instal a freely elected Bar Association council, many lawyers are questioning an abrupt government decision to stage the long-coveted elections on 17 February.
Counsellor Ali Abdel-Shaqour, head of the judicial committee in charge of supervising elections at professional syndicates, issued the decision only a few weeks before the elections are to be held, drawing strong objections from syndicate members. Some have said they are planning to contest the government decision before the Administrative Court -- a step that could lead to additional delays.
The main point of contention, aside from concerns over the rigging of the elections in favour of the government, is the list of candidates that Abdel-Shaqour included in his decree. Lawyers claim that the list, originally drawn up for the postponed elections that were to be held last July, is now outdated. Incensed syndicate members argue that Abdel-Shaqour should have left room for fresh nominations and allowed candidates to withdraw, saying that over the past seven months, several candidates have become legally ineligible to run for the positions they are slotted for.
Some candidates competing for the six seats reserved for public sector company lawyers should be disqualified, as they have now reached the age of retirement. Other nominees running for the two seats reserved for young lawyers are now over the ceiling age of 30. "These elections will lack legality unless new candidates are allowed to nominate themselves and others, now disqualified, are allowed to withdraw," said lawyer Mohamed El-Damati.
Prominent lawyers, including the three major candidates for the chairmanship of the syndicate's council -- Wafdist Ahmed Nasser, Nasserist Sameh Ashour and the ruling National Democratic Party's Raga'i
Attiya -- have been making great efforts to contain the situation and prevent any further delay of the elections. They urged colleagues to honour the date of elections so as not to miss the opportunity of "liberating" the syndicate.
Voter lists have been posted at the syndicate's headquarters in Cairo, as well as its chapters in the different governorates, and Counsellor Wahid Mahmoud, head of the interim committee in charge of running the Bar Association's affairs, has urged lawyers to participate in the election process. Starting Sunday, the interim committee has been receiving appeals from lawyers who object to the accuracy of the voter lists. According to Mohamed El-Anani, general secretary of the interim committee, this process will continue until 11 February. But lawyers argue that other administrative measures remain to be taken, such as determining the number and locations of polling stations and the number of voters who will cast ballots at each station. Elections will take place at the headquarters of the general syndicate, as well as its branches nationwide under complete judicial supervision.
Apart from the issue of candidate nominations, lawyers are also sceptical that the election results would reflect their true will. Islamist lawyer Fatema Rabie says that rumours of wide-scale rigging have led to the worries that a pro-government council that is a replica of the sequestration committee could be inevitable. On Tuesday, lawyers gathered at the syndicate headquarters to issue a statement vowing to confront any government attempt to falsify their will.
Ahmed Nasser, the Wafdist candidate for syndicate chairman, affirmed that the gathering was orchestrated to show syndicate members determination that the elections be free and fair. "At this gathering, we determined criteria to guarantee that administrative bodies will not interfere with the balloting, vote-counting and other aspects of the election process," Nasser said.
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