CAIRO: Local press reported "a limited number of applicants to the Judges' Club chairman position in this term's elections, whose application deadline was last Wednesday. The overall number of candidates running for the different positions reached around 45 applicants. Only three candidates are running for the chairman position; Hisham Geneina, Ahmed El-Zand and Mohamed Mansy Abo Halima. Independent judge Geneina, who has been praised by the Muslim Brotherhood on their website Ikhwanonline.com, plans to work intensively on the independence of the judicial system. His plan includes providing judges with health and social care, as well as making the judicial system completely independent of the state. Geneina is currently the secretary general of the club as well as the vice-president of the Court of Cassation. His decision to run for the chairman position came after Zakaria Abdel Aziz, the current independent chairman, refused to run for a third term as he wanted to limit the chairman s reign to two terms. The second candidate, El-Zand is head of the Cairo Appeals Court and chairman of Tanta's Judges' Club. The third candidate, Abo Halima is the chairman of Dessouq's Judges' Club. He plans to work on the independence of the judicial system, to revive the honor of judges in Egypt and work on enhancing the club's relations with the different ministries, according to independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. Both El-Zand and Abo Halima were labeled as the "government candidates through which the government wants to regain control of the club after six years of independence under the rule of Abdel Aziz. During those years, the club had exposed forgery in legislative elections, which included the referendum on Article 76 of the constitution which regulated presidential elections. In addition, the independent judges calls for the independence of the judiciary - dubbed as the "independent lobby - gained support and momentum for their cause, which they hope to promote further should the independent candidates be elected as chairman and vice chairman of the club. The Judges' Club elections are scheduled to take place on Friday Feb. 13.
