CAIRO: Controversy continues to loom over this year's Lawyers' Syndicate elections, as a request filed to Judge Farouk Sultan, head of the South Cairo Court that monitors the elections, called for the disqualification of incumbent chairman Sameh Ashour and Khaled Abou Kresha, running for chairman and board member respectively. Lawyer Makram Fahim filed a request to disqualify both candidates from the elections, claiming that they promote "forgery and bullying, the request said. Earlier this year, the North Cairo Court had ruled in favor of Fahim in a lawsuit he had filed against another lawyer, obliging the latter to pay him LE 20,000. Fahim claims that both Ashour and Kresha were passive in penalizing the lawyer in question and implementing the court's verdict. He added that he is willing to present documents verifying his claims. The Lawyers' Syndicate elections were previously postponed twice as a result of the professional syndicate's law. The list of candidates running for the chairman's position is also nothing short of controversial as it includes incumbent chairman Ashour, controversial MP Talaat El-Sadat, lawyer Ragaey Atteya and Islamist lawyer Montassar El-Zayyat. The latest addition to the remarkable group was Judge Mortada Mansour who aims at restoring the prestige and dignity of Egyptian lawyers, who have been repeatedly assaulted by police. He previously told local press that Ashour has to step down and give someone else a chance. Despite their differences, the candidates are unanimous in their desire for democratic, peaceful elections. "These are elections, everyone is free to join, we just hope that they will take place amidst a democratic atmosphere unlike the legislative chaos that happened, said Mohsen Eid, lawyer and spokesperson for El-Sadat. Eid attributes the elections being halted to having two conflicting laws. Another candidate for the chairman's position, Atteya, also hoped that the elections will be carried out democratically, without any further problems. He specifically blames Ashour for stopping the elections before so that he would "come back to the chairman's position and retain his occupation of the syndicate, he told Daily News Egypt.
