CAIRO: Following much debate, legal battles and an elections day with low turnout, the second round of the Egyptian Lawyers Syndicate elections take place today. The election was originally scheduled for last Saturday, May 23, but were postponed when more than 51 percent of its general assembly failed to show up. According to the law, 50 percent plus one of the general assembly must attend for the elections to be held. There are approximately 205,000 lawyers registered at the Syndicate. Less than 49 percent attended. "The legal quorum required to carry out the Lawyers' Syndicate elections wasn't met after we got the results from the rest of the governorates when 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) last week. The legal battles were initiated by candidates opposed to incumbent syndicate chairman, Sameh Ashour, who some say can't run for a third term since it is against the law. Ragaey Atteya places the blame for all the impediments of the elections on Ashour. "What is happening are all acts [from under the table] in order to reinstate Sameh Ashour as the chairman and retain his hold over the syndicate, he told Daily News Egypt. Atteya has previously told local news reports that Ashour is backed by the ruling National Democratic Party, which will go to all lengths to ensure his victory. However, other candidates have no objections to Ashour and welcome him into what they view as democratic elections. "It was obvious that this is a losing case, said Mohamed Tosson, who is running for the syndicate's council, referring to the cases filed by lawyers against Ashour. "The law says that each chairman can be elected for two terms, Ashour's second term wasn't completed which gives him the right to run again, said Tosson. There are 22 candidates vying for the position of syndicate president, while 217 lawyers are contesting seats in the 41-member council. Twelve lawyers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood are running in the elections. The elections were already postponed three times since October 2008, but earlier this month the Administrative Judicial Court ordered the Lawyers' Syndicate elections be held on May 23. 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 on May 23, Muslim Brotherhood member and lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, told Daily News Egypt in a previous interview.
