Mona El-Nahhas reports on chaotic elections within the liberal Democratic Front party At Friday noon, amid scenes of chaos, the liberal Democratic Front met in general assembly to elect a chairman and fill other leading posts. The following morning Osama El-Ghazali Harb was named as the party's new chair. Standing unopposed, he secured 870 out of a possible 1,339 votes. Harb's supporters also secured senior positions within the party, with Margret Azer ousting her rival Anwar Esmat El-Sadat to win the post of secretary-general. Azer won 651 votes to El-Sadat's 604. Ashraf Balbaa was elected as first deputy chairman, while writer Sekina Fouad, scriptwriter Osama Anwar Okasha and Sameh Antwan won the three other deputy chairman posts. Harb described the success of his supporters as "the birth of a big star inside the party". Conceding that the party had passed through difficulties, Harb told Al-Ahram Weekly that "Friday's elections will mark the beginning of a new and totally different stage". Harb's assessment was not shared by all party members, and the committee in charge of supervising the electoral process has been accused of several violations. Its head, Salah Fadl, subsequently conceded that the electoral process "was not ideal". Fist fights between members were reported on the day of elections and veteran judge Noha El-Zeini, charged with supervising the vote, resigned in protest against what she described as "acts of thuggery". Some party members have announced they will be contesting the results in the Administrative Court. "First of all, voter lists were full of mistakes. That is why they were loath to hand them to candidates ahead of the vote," claimed Mahmoud Yousri. The state of the lists had aroused concern earlier. Yehia El-Gamal, one of the founders of the party and its first chairman, had suggested election be postponed till May in order to allow time for the lists to be updated. Harb's supporters countered by arguing any delay would cost the party credibility with the public, leading El-Gamal to resign. Such suggestion was strongly opposed by Harb and his group, who argued that any further delay in the date of holding elections will cause the party to lose its credibility among the public. Elections were originally scheduled for 29 February. They were delayed first until 14 March and finally took place on 28 March. Until recently Harb had been expected to be opposed as chairman by Ali El-Salmi, another of the party's founders. At the last minute he announced his decision not to run, and resigned from the party. "It was the right thing to do," said El-Salmi, adding that his resignation from party ranks is final. It is not the first time El-Salmi has resigned. He left the party last September following differences with Harb only to surprise members by a sudden return.
