Putting the slate back into the poll?

By Gamal Essam El-Din
The Shura Council's Legislative and Constitutional Committee began meetings this week to discuss a series of proposed amendments to the electoral system law, known as the 1956 law on the exercise of political rights. The unexpected move came at the request of Farkhonda Hassan, chairperson of the council's Human Resources Development and Local Administration Committee, and 20 other council members. They wanted to debate the electoral system that should be used in next April's mid-term elections for half of the council's elected members.
Informed sources at the council -- a consultative upper house without legislative powers -- told Al-Ahram Weekly that the request reflected a state of tension and apprehension among council members. The majority are haunted by fears that the elections might cause a constitutional crisis, since full judicial supervision, as dictated by a Supreme Constitutional Court ruling last July, will apply to only half of the council's elected members contesting the mid-term elections. Some fears were also triggered by recent calls in the press that the president's right to appoint one third of the council's 264 members should be abrogated.
Hassan called for reconsidering the current individual candidacy system in light of the outcome of the recent People's Assembly elections. There appears to be some sort of consensus among the council's Legislative and Constitutional Committee members that a decade's use of the individual candidacy system has led to stagnation of political activity. In their request, council members called for introducing a "mixed electoral system" that combines the individual and proportional slate systems and ensures equal opportunity for independent and partisan candidates.
But a committee member, who wished to remain anonymous, said the request was not so much motivated by the fear of a constitutional crisis as the wish to give a boost to the exercise of democracy. "I don't think the council's mid-term elections next April will cause a constitutional crisis. The ruling handed down by the Supreme Constitutional Court last July applied only to parliamentary elections, not to Shura Council elections. This is why the request is aimed at revising the General Elections Law with the aim of introducing political reform," the member said. "We have to draw lessons from the recent parliamentary elections and turn these lessons into legislative proposals and amendments."
Explaining her appeal, Hassan, who is also the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) secretary for women's affairs, argued that there can be no denial that a 10-year implementation of the individual candidacy system has proved propitious to businessmen and the nouveaux riche at the expense of other important categories, such as political party cadres, the intelligentsia, women and scientists. "This is clearly the most important lesson to be drawn from the recent parliamentary elections. And the lesson was so glaring because there was an obvious lack of experienced and highly qualified cadres to fill the top posts of the new People's Assembly committees," said Hassan.
Fathi Ragab, deputy chairman of the Council's Legislative and Constitutional Committee, said several legal and constitutional experts are studying the reasons behind the Supreme Constitutional Court's 1987 decision that the slate system, which obligates the candidates of each political party to run collectively on a single ticket in each constituency, is unconstitutional. In 1990, the same court ruled that a system that combined the slate and individual systems was also unconstitutional. "These reasons must be examined exhaustively in constitutional, legal and partisan circles before a mixed electoral system that is constitutionally viable is forged," Ragab said.
Committee members, however, believe that some time will have to pass before a law enacting the new system sees the light. According to council chairman Mustafa Kamal Helmi, there is a strong tendency among legal experts to switch to a new form of the slate-cum-individual system that is constitutionally viable. "This, however, will take some time and the individual candidacy system is most likely to be retained in the Shura mid-term elections," Helmi said.
In opposition circles, Hassan's request was received with great surprise. Rifaat El-Said, secretary-general of the leftist Tagammu Party, recalled that ahead of the 2000 parliamentary elections, most opposition parties made strong and frequent calls for reviving the slate system, only to be turned down by NDP leaders. Many opposition figures agree that the push for a mixed electoral system reflected a new NDP conviction that the individual candidacy system, as applied in the recent parliamentary elections, held under full judicial supervision, led to the erosion of the NDP's control over its candidates. "The NDP won a mere 37 per cent of seats [which later swelled to 85 per cent because of NDP members who ran as independents] under the individual candidacy system," said independent Adel Eid. "This left the ruling party in an extraordinarily weak position. Now it has little control over its deputies in the People's Assembly. Leading NDP officials, regardless of their claim to be seeking greater democracy, appear to believe that the switch to the slate system will help them regain control."
Meanwhile, an evaluation committee established by President Hosni Mubarak, the NDP chairman, to assess the NDP's performance in the parliamentary elections held its first meeting last week. The meeting discussed a report prepared by Gamal Mubarak, a member of the NDP's general secretariat, on overhauling the ruling party to render its performance more effective ahead of the Shura mid-term elections. The report recommended that the NDP's governorate secretaries should no longer be allowed to contest People's Assembly and Shura Council elections. "The NDP's governorate secretaries will no longer be members of the People's Assembly or Shura Council. The objective is to make them devote all their time and efforts to reinforce the party's performance, especially ahead of the Shura elections," said NDP assistant secretary-general Kamal El-Shazli. Consequently, between 10 and 15 NDP governorate secretaries are expected to be replaced at the beginning of next month. Eight of them were members of the outgoing assembly who lost their seats in the parliamentary elections.
El-Shazli also denied reports of plans to replace leading NDP officials. "Any change in NDP ranks is meant by President Mubarak to be a change of modes of performance and not a change of leading members who participated in founding the party," El-Shazli said.
Related stories:
Bills to clean up the polls 10 - 16 February 2000
Preparing for a new parliament 6 - 12 January 2000
Shura debates political reform 16 - 22 December 1999
Of democracy, freedom and globalisation 2 - 8 December 1999
Lobbying for reform 2 - 8 September 1999
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Send a letter to the Editor