CAIRO: Things are looking a little different this year as university students all over Egypt choose their representatives at the annual student union elections. Despite heavy participation, this year the elections are calmer and less intense after the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students launched their "Centenary of Hope initiative in which they minimized their participation, with 60 candidates at Cairo University running in a single committee. We launched this initiative to turn a new page with the new university administration, to show goodwill and prove our readiness to cooperate with anyone for the good of students, Mohamed Mohey spokesperson for Brotherhood (MB) students at Cairo University, told Daily News Egypt During the past three years, scenes of security forces surrounding the university and impeding the gates were common because of repeated violent clashes between police and MB students during election season. Students who were disqualified from running in the elections formed an alternative student union which they called the Free Union in retaliation for being sidelined. [This year] we chose to participate in one committee only to prove that we are not seeking authority and that all we want is to serve our colleagues, Mohey added. MB students only ran in the arts committee because, according to Mohey, MB students have significant activities to offer in this field like theater production and poetry readings. We even offered to create legitimate student groups but the administration's response was to delete our names from the candidate lists and reject our proposals, Mohey said. The president of the university even refused to meet us, he added. At universities like Zagazig and Mansoura, several MB students were arrested while others were deleted from the candidate lists. In response, MB students organized a press conference in front of the main hall of Cairo University Tuesday to express their anger at the way university administrations dealt with them and to announce the launch of the Rasm Qalb campaign. (Literally 'rasm qalb' means cardiogram). The campaign aims at enhancing favorable social and religious behavior among students and highlight the activities MB students will take over from the official student unions. President of Cairo University Hossam Kamel, however, had told the press that no student will be prevented from participating in the elections on political or religious grounds. He also said that there will be a committee of independent professors and students monitoring the election. More than 1,808 are competing in the elections this year at Cairo University for seven committees at each faculty compared to 1,517 last year; while at Ain Shams University 852 candidates were registered, marking a 42 percent increase from last year. At Helwan University 940 students are running in the elections. Elections will conclude on Oct. 20 when student councils will be fully formed. Candidates use various means publicity stunts to attract voters such as promising trips and football tournaments and setting up huge tents for each group in faculties like commerce and law which include the highest student density. In lower density faculties like mass communications and the faculty of economics and political science, publicity was confined to small brochures distributed among students. There is an increased interest by more students to run in the election, yet not many people are interested in voting, Ahmed Rabei, a member of the student union at the Cairo University's faculty of law told Daily News Egypt. Each year they embarrass us and the student union ends up being appointed by the administration, Rabei said. This year, the new law allows irregular/part-time students to nominate themselves and vote in the elections. Candidates must also pay fees to be eligible for elections, he added. Because not enough students participate in the voting process, student unions are usually appointed. Ibrahim, a student at the faculty of engineering, however, doesn't put much faith in any of the candidates. I know them, they are all failures, he said. I noticed that the Muslim Brotherhood presence is very weak this year unlike the case when I was a freshman, when they used to invite me to join them Ibrahim said. It is the same story of arrests and demonstrations every year. It's getting boring, said one student at the faculty of commerce in Helwan University. At one of the Helwan University faculties, the administration tried to encourage students to participate in the elections when they saw that very few were running. They told us to encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities and convince them that a student who participates in activities and gets average grades is better than one who gets excellent grades but doesn t participate in any activities, one professor speaking on condition of anonymity told Daily News Egypt These elections are almost completely devoid of political party participation due to the small number of students affiliated to them. The Nasserist Party has only seven students at Cairo University. The Democracy Status Center, an Egyptian NGO, criticized student elections saying that the law governing this election places hard condition and restrictions which constrain student activity. It claims that administrative and security interference saps student activities from their original purpose and denies students the right to choose their representatives. The NGO demanded the drafting of a new law that is more democratic and allows students to choose their student unions, takes care of their problems and allows them social participation instead of resorting to violence or a state of carelessness and negativity.
