The results of the Journalists Syndicate elections held Wednesday were announced Thursday morning, with the majority of the council's 12 seats going to former members and Muslim Brotherhood-backed journalist Mamdouh al-Wali winning the chairman position. Following his victory, Wali, who is the deputy chief editor for economic affairs at Al-Ahram newspaper and was backed by the Brotherhood, said that he does not belong to the Brotherhood or any other Islamic movement. Wali thanked the Brotherhood for its support following the announcement of the results, but emphasized he would not be biased toward any Islamic movement. The judicial committee supervising the election said that he garnered 1646 votes, beating former Journalists Syndicate Chairman Yehya Qalash, who was backed by young and secular journalists and received 1399 votes. Wali's repeated pledges to improve syndicate finances and his assertions that he would not allow the syndicate to become a field for competing political movements helped him win, observers said. He also promised that the syndicate would be dedicated solely to protecting journalists' rights. Wali is an economic analyst and a banking and stock market specialist. Four out of five of the Brotherhood's candidates vying for council seats lost their races. Mohamed Abdel Qoddous will be the only Brotherhood member on the 12-person council. Abdel Qoddous opted not to run on the list of Brotherhood candidates, instead running independently. Six of the previous council members retained their seats, including Abdel Qoddous, Gamal Abdel Rahim, Hatem Zakareya, Abeer Saady, Gamal Fahmy and Hany Omara. The new members are Osama Dawoud, Hisham Younis, Ibrahim Abou Kiela, Alaa al-Attar, Karem Mahmoud and Khaled Miery.
