Syndicate elections are set to shake up the political scene, reports Mona El-Nahhas In mid-October thousands of lawyers are due to elect their syndicate chairman and 46 council members. The poll, if it goes ahead, will be the first time in years that there is no government- backed candidate. When nominations closed on 8 September 20 candidates had registered for the chairman's seat. The three front runners are former syndicate chairman and Nasserist leader Sameh Ashour, deputy chairman of the Wafd Party Mohamed Kamel and Islamist lawyer Montasser El-Zayat. The manifestos of the three do not differ much: all focus on restoring the Bar Association's place at the forefront of the political scene. "The Bar Association must regain its prominent role," says El-Zayat, who stresses that he is standing in the coming polls as an independent rather than an Islamist. During an Iftar banquet last month El-Zayat told lawyers that he was committed to improving the syndicate's financial position in order to provide better services. Kamel has promised to work towards improving professional standards, saying this will require amendments to the regulations governing the work of lawyers. He has also argued that the syndicate should have a role in drafting new legislation. Five former council members who belonged to the now defunct National Democratic Party (NDP) are reported to have submitted candidacy papers just hours before nominations closed. The five insist that there is no legal barrier to their standing for council seats. The previous syndicate council was dominated by members of the NDP and headed by an NDP chairman, Hamdi Khalifa. Both were criticised for marginalising the role of the syndicate to serve the interests of the former regime. Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), says the group will not be fielding a candidate for the syndicate chair. Its strategy is to concentrate on securing a majority of council seats, and it has yet to decide which of the nominees will receive its backing in the chairmanship race. The Muslim Brotherhood is also expected to campaign strongly in the elections of the Press Syndicate scheduled for 14 October. After years of exclusion, the group is determined to make its presence felt across a range of national institutions. Six journalists belonging to the Brotherhood are expected to stand for the 12 council seats. Nominations at the Press Syndicate opened on 17 September and closed yesterday. Mamdouh El-Wali, deputy editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram daily and believed to enjoy Brotherhood support, and Yehia Qallash, a strong advocate of a more independent press, are expected to make the front running in the competition for the chairmanship of the syndicate. Despite having different agendas both insist that a strong council is necessary for the union to weather the challenges it faces. Qallash argues that the Press Syndicate must play the leading role in freeing the media of harmful restrictions. "This requires an immediate overhaul of all legislation related to press freedom," he says, including laws regulating the profession, the press syndicate law and articles in the penal code dealing with publishing crimes. "We must also work to ensure that the Press Syndicate is itself financially independent from the state," Qallash said. "This must be a priority for whoever wins the chairmanship." El-Wali agrees with Qallash on the importance of amending legislation and consolidating syndicate revenues, though it is the latter on which he prefers to focus. According to El-Wali, the pension fund, the housing project and other services offered to syndicate members have suffered since the 2007 syndicate polls as a result of budgetary deficits. Increasing syndicate resources via a draft law which has been shelved for years will help solve the financial crisis, he says. El-Wali is also in favour of setting minimum salaries for journalists. El-Wali appeared keen to distance himself from the Muslim Brotherhood, whose support he is rumoured to enjoy. "I am not the candidate of the Brotherhood or of any other political trend. I am running in the polls as an independent. Involving politics in the work of unions undermines their performance." Qallash excludes the possibility of Islamists dominating the Press Syndicate Council, arguing that the syndicate's internal culture militates against the control of any single political trend. The situation may be different at the Engineers' Syndicate which, after 16 years of judicial sequestration, goes to the polls on 25 November. Legal barriers to elections at the syndicate were lifted in mid-August when the courts ruled that the sequestration of the syndicate be lifted. In the wake of the ruling, engineers began to press for the dismissal of custodians and their replacement by a neutral committee to run affairs until the election of a new council. Negotiations with Irrigation Minister Hisham Qandil in his legal capacity as the syndicate supervisor were reported to have been fruitful. Nominations closed on 24 August. The Muslim Brotherhood expects to win a majority of council seats, though it is not fielding a candidate for the chairmanship. Ismail Osman, former head of the Arab Contractors, is widely seen as the Brotherhood's favoured candidate to chair the union. He will compete against Tareq El-Nabarawi, a leading member of the anti-sequestration group of engineers from which the Brotherhood withdrew in the wake of the 25 January Revolution. El-Nabarawi argues that to represent the interests of all members the syndicate chairman must be politically neutral.
