The ongoing struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the state was reflected in the Student Union elections in the nation's 18 universities, Doaa Abdel-Moneim reports Student union elections were held on Monday, with university administrators saying that it was clean and fair, while students, mostly affiliated to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, said their disqualification from the list of candidates allowed NDP-affiliated students to win the polls, in many cases uncontested. The Brotherhood tried to field hundreds of candidates in the university's Student Union elections. Campus authorities, however, prevented nearly every Islamist student from getting on the ballot. They also turned down leftist candidates and students from opposing movements. The result, which was announced on the same day of the election, was that the majority of the candidates hand- picked by the authorities won their races by default since there were no other competitors allowed. In the nation's 18 public universities the 1.6 million students have the right to vote but there is always the problem of a poor turn-out of voters in which only half this number votes. University administrators said the students who were disqualified did not meet nomination requirements specifying that candidates have to have a "good reputation". This particular stipulation was widely used to shut out both leftist and Islamist applicants who participate in protests and other activities which can be construed by the university as trouble- making. The 1979 Student Charter, which was amended in 2007, stipulates that candidates must display "good behaviour and a sound reputation". The Ministry of Higher Education had announced that the one-day nomination would be on 7 October but was held on 5 October, a move considered by MB-affiliated students "as a trick to prevent them from enlisting themselves". The students filed 15 appeals at the administrative court requesting the stoppage of elections on the basis that the correct date of candidacy announcements was not announced. The court rejected the request. At this time of year, courts receive dozens of lawsuits which request that elections be stopped and that new elections be staged with equal participation. Refaat Zidan, a centrist lawyer, told Al-Ahram Weekly that dozens of cases will be filed against the disqualification of the students from the nominees list, but added that like every year, even if they win, it would be regarded useless because the elections were in fact already held. Ahmed El-Gazzar, a student who won in Ain Shams University, confirmed that the elections "were very democratic and there was no premeditated scenario of deleting any nominees who were not suited to being a member in the union". Adel Zayed, deputy chairman of Cairo University, said that "all election procedures are brought under the supervision of teaching staff members so that they follow transparency rules." Since the early 20th century student unions have played an extensive role in many political upheavals that changed the course of Egypt's history. Student activism ahead of the 1919 Revolution against British occupation, and the 1971-73 campus-based demonstrations demanding that Egypt go to war with Israel, are two famous cases in point.
