As the ruling NDP sails to an election victory in local council elections, critics argue whether the overwhelming win was democracy's gain or loss, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Until Al-Ahram Weekly went to press yesterday, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) was heading for a resounding triumph in the local council elections. Minister of Local Development Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub said early voter count showed the NDP poised to win more than 90 per cent of the seats, with 80 per cent already having been won unopposed. Official sources expect that the NDP is slated to win no less than 97 per cent of the seats. El-Mahgoub said 57,540 candidates vied for 53,000 seats at the level of governorate, city, town, district, local village unit and village in the 8 April elections. He said the NDP came out on top in terms of number of candidates. The ruling party, El-Mahgoub added, fielded 53,000 candidates, or a candidate for each seat, while six opposition parties fielded only 1,221 candidates. Out of the total, 535 belonged to Wafd, 415 to the leftist Tagammu Party, 170 to the leftist Nasserist Party, 74 to the Geel (Generation) Party, 16 to the liberal Democratic Front, and 11 to the Egypt Arab Socialist Party. Other sources said the liberal Ghad Party fielded 145 candidates. El-Mahgoub said an estimated 3,000 candidates ran as independents, most being NDP members who decided to run independently. As agreed by political observers, the local elections held few surprises. Security forces were clearly able to contain the violent clashes which erupted in the Nile Delta industrial city of Mahala Al-Kubra on 6 April, labour strike day, ensuring that the elections ran smoothly. NDP sources told the Weekly that in view of the tense security situation, NDP officials in Mahala decided to give up 23 seats to opposition candidates. Even the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood's call on citizens to boycott the poll was of no surprise to observers. Jihad Auda, a member of the policies committeeof the NDP, believes the boycott was akin to political theatrics after the Brotherhood was left with no hope of clinching any seats in local councils. In a press conference on Monday, Brotherhood leaders cried foul, claiming that the local elections "were rigged in advance of voting day." For this reason, Brotherhood leaders said the group decided to boycott the elections for the sake of legitimacy. They alleged that a one-month police crackdown left the group able to field only 20 candidates. They also asserted that the government had ignored implementing more than 7,000 court rulings that ordered either the names of Brotherhood candidates be registered or that voting be annulled because of irregularities. Brotherhood vowed that its officials will spare no effort in launching a legal and constitutional battle against the results of the elections. While sources differed greatly over the turnout, officials declined to provide actual figures. Until the Weekly went to press, reporters said the turnout was between five per cent in cities and as high as 15 to 20 per cent in villages, especially in the Delta and Upper Egypt. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), however, said, "as the results of the elections were known before the voting and because the vote took place against a background of demonstrations over rising food prices, most Egyptians opted to stay away from the polls." Defending their party, NDP leaders said its success clearly reflected its popularity among the masses. Moufid Shehab, the NDP's assistant secretary- general and minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs, said the NDP had planned well for the elections. "The party selected highly credible, dynamic and young candidates and held several public rallies to promote them among the masses," Shehab said. Political pundits, however, were divided over the significance of the local council results for the future of democratisation in Egypt. NDP leaders strongly agreed that the party's victory will be followed by serious efforts aimed at reforming the local administration system. "The NDP genuinely believes that improving the daily lives and economic hardships facing citizens is by modernising the local administration system," said Shehab, adding that the next stage will focus on turning the chapter in President Hosni Mubarak's 2005 presidential election manifesto about reforming local administration into a reality. "This takes the shape of democratising these councils in terms of decentralising their services and providing its members with greater supervisory powers" Shehab argued. By contrast, Amr Elshoubaki, an Al-Ahram political analyst, believes the outcome of the elections does not bode well for the future of democratisation in Egypt. "The retention of the NDP's monopoly over the councils means that corruption and poor performances will remain rampant to the dismay of the masses," Elshoubaki argued. He also said he believed that the outcome dealt a blow to opposition parties. "These parties fielded a very small number of candidates and were able to clinch just few seats," said Elshoubaki, adding, "this means a big loss for democracy and political competition in Egypt." Sources confirm that the seats won by political parties will never exceed 500, or less than one per cent of the total seats in municipal councils.
