What is the role of non-governmental organisations in the coming parliamentary elections? Mohamed Abdel-Baky attends a seminar on the subject Two months before parliamentary elections and Egyptian civil society needs a wake-up call. Experts in Cairo say they are uncertain about the role that NGOs could play in the election process, with most observers and activists believing that local civil society will be unable to play as prominent a role in parliamentary elections as it did in 2005. "In the last decade Egyptian NGOs have been unable to promote the culture of civic engagement at a grassroots level," said political expert Ayman Abdel-Wahab at a seminar organised last week by Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies on civil society's role in the coming parliamentary election. Abdel-Wahab added that Egypt "does not have a real civil society as it is understood in Western countries" that could help the government in shaping policies and observe its performance. Instead, he said, "we have a group of NGOs dependent on foreign funding and which work under many legal restrictions." Before June's Shura Council elections NGOs were banned from monitoring the poll without first obtaining the permission of the High Election Committee (HEC). The HEC in turn gave authority for ranting permissions to the government-affiliated National Council for Human Rights (NCHR). The NCHR allowed access for 1,600 observers and ignored more than 3,200 requests for reasons it has yet to disclose. The move minimised civil organisations' role in the Shura poll and, says Abdel-Wahab, is expected to be repeated in the coming parliamentary elections. Many NGOs lack the funding to monitor the elections and train observers. In 2005 the main donors were the EU and USAID, but sources in Washington have told Al-Ahram Weekly that in order to avoid any confrontation with the Egyptian government USAID would not repeat the exercise this year. The only American funds available for monitoring would be channelled through the Middle East Partnership Initiative, an office within the State Department. Several civil society organisations have announced in the last few months that they plan to monitor the upcoming elections whether they have funding or not. The Civil Coalition for Democratic Reform, known as "Participate", is already training volunteer monitors. The Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies has started the implementation of a project to follow media coverage of the elections over a period of two months and the Egyptian Organisation for Human rights has plans to train 3,000 volunteers. Other experts pointed out that NGOs' performance is generally weak as a result of internal corruption and agendas that are heavily dependent on donors. Amany Qandil, an expert in civil society affairs, believes the role of NGOs is not to lead any change but to keep balance and stability in society after democratic reforms are in place. She added that very few, if any, NGOs have a mission based on core democratic values and most are affiliated to a political group or public figure. While government officials have expressed a negative attitude to international monitoring, the US administration is still trying to convince the Egyptian government to allow international observers to attend polling day. "President Barack Obama has discussed with President Hosni Mubarak the coming parliamentary elections and we hope to see a transparent and fair election," said US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Tamara Wittes on a visit to Cairo last week. Egypt's refusal of international monitoring is based on the argument that it violates sovereignty, a position with which political pundit El-Sayed Yassin takes issue. It is the right, he says, of national and international NGOs to make sure that the election process is fair and democratic, especially given how notions of national sovereignty have changed in recent years.
