CAIRO: The Egyptian Lawyers' Syndicate's elections were postponed after more than 51 percent of its general assembly failed to show up on Saturday. According to the law, 50 percent plus one of the general assembly has to attend for the elections to take place. There are approximately 205,000 lawyers registered at the Syndicate. Less than 49 percent attended. Following much debate and legal battles, a court had ordered the elections be held on Saturday, May 23. The general assembly is to convene again on Saturday May 30 for the elections. "The legal quorum required to carry on the Lawyers Syndicate elections wasn't met after we got the results from the rest of the governorates after the voting ended at 5 pm so we scheduled a second round this Saturday, judge Farouk Sultan, head of South Cairo Primary Court and head of the judicial committee supervising the professional syndicates elections, told Middle East News Agency (MENA). There are 22 candidates running for syndicate president, while 217 lawyers fight for seats in the 41-member council. Twelve lawyers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood are running in the elections. "We have no doubt that the elections are going to take place since it has been set by a court order . Holding a second round is due to the legalities that necessitate the attendance of 51 percent of the general assembly, Mohamed Tosson, spokesperson of a committee monitoring the elections, told Daily News Egypt. The candidates are taking this extra week to further their campaign. "Each candidate has his supporters, each is presenting his plans, programs and agenda to the voters, explained Tosson. Earlier this month, an Administrative Judicial Court ordered the Lawyers' Syndicate elections be held on May 23 and rejected cases filed against the incumbent chairman, Sameh Ashour, who is running for another term. At the time, some lawyers said that the date is not set in stone despite the court order. "Our main concern is that the 'appeals experts' wouldn't do something to impede the elections again and stop it from taking place on May 23, lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Daily News Egypt in a previous interview. The elections were postponed three times since October 2008. Last January, Cairo's Administrative Court suspended the elections three days before it was scheduled to take place, due to a report issued by a judicial committee to scrutinize the registration of lawyers who would vote in the elections. The report described "violations and errors in the register such as mistakes concerning lawyers' names and addresses, and the failure to remove the names of deceased lawyers.
