CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) seems to be winning with a clear majority in the nine governorates that voted in the first phase of the Egyptian parliamentary elections last Monday and Tuesday. Although results will only be published tonight, polling data show that the party fares even better than the anticipated 40 percent of the votes and will likely garner more than 50 percent. The FJP, just like the other parties, presented rather vague policy positions and party programs. The success story is likely due to the outstanding organizational strength, the high manpower and discipline, as well as the omnipresence of the party during both the pre-election period as well as during the two election days. The elections turned out just as many political observers feared– an unequal game. The hastily set up schedule for the elections and their complex voting procedures favored the established parties, particularly the FJP, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, with established reputation and organizational strength. So while many of the newly formed parties found themselves frustrated in explaining the voting mechanisms and locations instead of campaigning their policy positions and bolstering publicity, the FJP could fully concentrate on advising voters and marking their presence. More importantly though, the party could rely on its huge manpower base. While other parties were less visible campaigning in the pre-election phase, the FJP seemed present in almost all areas. They were distributing flyers in the center areas of Cairo and talking to people. They also ran door-to-door campaigns in the poorer neighborhoods. Mahmud Said, a local resident of Imbaba reported three weeks ago that they rang on his door as late as 11pm and explained voting procedures and their positions for more than 30 minutes, although the district will only vote in the 2nd election phase on 14-15 December. Characteristically, representatives of the FJP always appear in a very professional way, wearing suits and ties. Back in September, an international student group under a program of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, held talks with the major parties to filter out their agendas and political priorities. The FJP stuck out from the other parties with regard to timeliness, prior preparation, manpower, and organization, according to a student that attended the meetings. Although they couldn't present much of a program with regard to contents, they were wary of leaving a professional impression. Their predominance in organization and manpower became even clearer during the election days. Like many other parties, the FJP engaged in illegal campaigning right in front of the polling stations, but also provided additional services including polling information desks equipped with lap-tops. At these booths, they did not only assist people with finding their state-issued voter ID numbers needed for voting, but also gave ready candidate recommendations to people expressing uncertainty regarding of whom they should vote for. The FJP thereby clearly blurred the line between assistance and campaign. To the general confusion, the booths could not always clearly be identified as FJP services. Many voters could not yet identify with parties and party positions, as so many new parties popped up on the political landscape after Mubarak's ouster. This rendered campaigning in front of polling stations even more important. While the FJP told Joshua Hersh from Huffington Post that they had about 10,000 helpers on the streets of Alexandria during the election days, the Free Egyptian party of secular business tycoon Naguib Sawiris indicated that they had about 400 volunteers. The Justice Party put their total number of volunteers at just 12. While the Muslim Brotherhood substituted state agencies in the provision of electoral services like voter assistance and information provision at the polling stations, it artfully exploited the current state weaknesses. To the surprise of many political observers, the FJP even engaged in such services in the aftermath of the elections; reportedly, the protected the transport lines of ballot boxes to the counting centers and took on observer functions at these centers, making public various irregularities. BM
