Elections of faculty heads throughout the country's universities began this week, Reem Leila reports Elections of deans of faculties began in Egypt's 18 universities on Saturday. Close to 90 per cent of university professors, along with assistant lecturers, entered the polls, which were reported to be transparent. The elections are the first to take place in decades. The elections were preceded by security reports provided by the universities to the concerned authorities. The report has classified the nominees, each according to his political school. According to the report, nominees were described as either "moderate" or "belonging to a Brotherhood group", whereas others were listed as "out of favour" or opponents of the university's administration. Other nominees were categorised as not having a certain political activity or direction. Most university professors believe submitting such a report before the elections shows that the university administration might interfere with the election results. According to Adel Abdel-Gawad, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, the procedure was normal during the previous regime, to arrange the election results in favour of the regime's preferred candidates. "There was no need for such a step," said Abdel-Gawad. According to election regulations, candidates must win more than 50 per cent of the votes in order to win the seat. The elections committee of Cairo University's Faculty of Law announced that former dean Mahmoud Qebeish won the post, taking in 55.9 per cent of the votes. Most faculties in Cairo University will hold a second round of elections. Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Azza Agha, resigned after faculty students protested against her staying. Hassan Emad won the post of dead for the Faculty of Mass Communication at Cairo University garnering 62.3 per cent of the vote. Wael El-Degwi won 75 per cent of the votes at the Faculty of Engineering, Reem Bahgat, former dean, won in the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, raking in 81 per cent of the votes. At the Faculty of Dar Al-Olum, the current dean Mohamed Saleh also won 54 per cent. Soheir Ahmed succeeded in taking the dean's seat at the Faculty of Educational Studies. Ezzeddin Abu Steet came first in the elections at the Faculty of Agriculture, and Alaa Balbaa took the post at the Faculty of Physiotherapy. Most faculties at Ain Shams University will stage a second round of elections due to a lack of quorum. The second round will take place on 2 October. Mohamed Abdel-Naim, a former secretary of the dismantled National Democratic Party (NDP) in Port Said, was elected dean at Port Said University's Faculty of Commerce. Abdel-Naim's four opponents included Mohamed Naguib, the former dean. Abdel-Gawad said majority opinion selected the winning deans. "Elections were conducted in an amicable atmosphere, contrary to the claims of opponents. After announcing the results, losers saluted winners in a very friendly atmosphere. There were no shouting matches or brawls either before or after the declaration of the results," said Abdel-Gawad. Between 20 to 30 per cent of former deans were re-elected. "This proves that not all deans who were appointed during the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak were corrupt. It also reveals that we as university professors are not against those who were appointed during the old regime," argued Abdel-Gawad. University professors have been criticising Prime Minister Essam Sharaf for not dismissing all of the top university guns in August as he promised. They have been protesting throughout the past weeks requesting the dismissal of university leaders and the holding of free elections. Awatef Abdel-Rahman, a veteran university professor and a member of the 9 March movement, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "At last the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [SCAF], and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf kept their promises to us. Elections were transparent and ballots were put in translucent boxes and in front of everybody. We as university professors are honoured with the recent elections." Elections of 13 out of 18 university presidents will soon take place. Nominations for the posts are to be held between 27-28 September. The presidents of Mansoura, Beni Sweif, Zagazig, Damanhour, Suez Canal, Menoufiya and Kafr Al-Sheikh are retired, whereas five university presidents -- from Cairo, Port Said, Helwan, Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and Fayoum -- resigned from their post. Elections will not at present be held at the universities of Alexandria, Ain Shams, Tanta, Minya, Assiut and Sohag after their presidents refused to resign. Elections for these posts will take place on 10 October. Final results will be announced the following day.
