A court ruling halted polls at the Bar Association. Mona El-Nahhas sees what's next The Administrative Court on Sunday ordered a halt to the Bar Association's elections which were scheduled for 14 November. Although having decided previously to stop their election campaign until the court decides whether there would be elections, candidates were nevertheless disappointed. The court ruling was passed after 16 lawyers filed 24 appeals demanding a halt to the elections. In the appeals, filed immediately after the date to stage elections was fixed, the claimants argued that the steps taken by which elections were to be held were null and void. They insisted that Law 100/1993 was not applied while taking the necessary electoral procedures. Law 100 stipulates that only the head of the Cairo Southern Court is entitled to sort out voters' lists, fix a date for the polls and another date for the start of nominations, and announce the final names of candidates. However, to the surprise of the claimants, the chief justice of the Appeals Court took all these steps at the same time. In fact, the chief justice of the Appeals Court began to take full responsibility of administrative affairs at the Bar Association after a court ruling was passed earlier this year dissolving the Islamist-controlled Syndicate Council. "Running the syndicate is something totally different from regulating the electoral process there," Islamist lawyer Mokhtar Nouh and one of the claimants said after hailing Sunday's ruling which supports their legal argument. "It's a historic ruling," said Tharwat El-Kharabawi, another claimant. The ruling stressed that Law 100 is what should regulate elections at all professional syndicates, including the Bar. The court made it clear that no other law could replace Law 100. In this connection, the court argued, the law of the legal profession, which was amended in June, has nothing to do with professional syndicates elections; it simply defines who should administer the Bar Association should it be dissolved. For Nouh and his group, applying Law 100 would guarantee that elections will not be rigged. "Following the ruling, I started to think of running in the elections for syndicate chairman," Nouh said. While Law 100 stipulates that judicial supervision over professional syndicates' elections is a must, the law of the legal profession on the other hand allows lawyers working for branch syndicates in the provinces to replace judges in supervising the polls. "This of course would open the door wide to rigging," Nouh said. While pleasing Nouh and the rest of the claimants, the ruling shocked a majority of lawyers, who viewed it as returning the whole electoral process back to square one. Lawyers now have to wait until the head of the Cairo Southern Court announces a date for the coming elections. "God only knows how long it will take him to fix a date for staging syndicate elections," Gamal Tageddin, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a candidate for the syndicate council, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Lawyers are not optimistic about the future of their syndicate, fearing that it would follow the same path as the Engineers Syndicate. For many engineers, holding syndicate elections seems a far-fetched dream. Since 1995, when the Engineers Syndicate was placed under judicial sequestration, engineers have been waiting for the head of the Cairo Southern Court to set a date for elections. Sorting out voters' lists was the pretext always cited to justify the delay in taking such a step. Although dismayed by the court ruling and its consequences, lawyer candidates said they would not allow a repeat of such a scenario at their syndicate. Sameh Ashour, who was planning to run for Bar Association chairman, called upon "all honourable lawyers" to unite and save their syndicate from losing its independence. "We, the lawyers, should fight for a free syndicate without any judicial control," Ashour said. "We are against any delay in staging elections or restoring legitimacy to the Bar Association," said Nasserist lawyer Khaled Abu Kresha from Ashour's camp. But according to Talaat El-Sadat, a third candidate for the chairmanship seat, halting elections now would be better than annulling their results later. Until the launching of elections, the chief justice of the Appeals Court will remain in charge of running the Bar Association. Ragaai Attiya, another chairmanship candidate, vowed he would not stop contacting lawyers with the aim of saving the Bar from a possible freeze. Attiya said lawyers should start negotiations with the head of the Cairo Southern Court and press for re-opening the door for candidates.
