Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    US employment cost index 3.6% up in year to June 2025    Egypt welcomes Canada, Malta's decision to recognise Palestinian state    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Sterling set for sharpest monthly drop since 2022    Egypt, Brazil sign deal to boost pharmaceutical cooperation    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Egypt exports first high-tech potato seeds to Uzbekistan after opening market    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi sends letter to Nigerian president affirming strategic ties    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Opposition female candidates say women's quota proved 'a failure'
Published in Daily News Egypt on 03 - 12 - 2010

CAIRO: Female opposition candidates said the 64-seat quota allocated for women in the 2010 parliamentary elections proved a “failure” and described it as “a method to guarantee the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) additional seats in the People's Assembly.”
“The quota law failed miserably, it resulted in merely adding seats in parliament in favor of the NDP,” Mona Al-Qurashi, member of the executive bureau of Al-Wafd Party and one of its candidates in Assiut, told Daily News Egypt.
“The female NDP candidates who won the elections in Assiut didn't contest fairly for their seats, they depended on security forces and their representatives to do that for them,” Al-Qurashi said.
“I toured the whole governorate of Assiut to meet the people, but the people of Upper Egypt couldn't even fathom what the quota meant and how to vote for the women,” she added.
Muslim Brotherhood candidate running for the women's quota in Giza, Amal Abdel Kerim, accused the NDP of rigging the elections in their favor.
”The elections weren't just rigged against the Brotherhood's female candidates, they were rigged against all Brotherhood candidates with the help of state security and the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC),” Abdel Kerim told Daily News Egypt.
“I toured 16 polling stations in Dokki, Agouza and Al-Haram districts and found the doors shut in the faces of voters,” Abdel Kerim said.
Abdel Kerim said that none of her representatives were allowed inside the polling stations like other Brotherhood candidates despite having notarized permits allowing them to do so.
“The polling station in Hoda El-Shaarawy school [in Shoubra Al-Kheima district] was completely sealed off and there were bullies guarding the doors,” she said.
“The female voters in Geziret El-Dahab in Giza were simple illiterate women, they were given forged ballots in favor of the ruling National Democratic Party candidates in exchange for LE 50 each,” she added.
“The real ballot boxes were spotted being switched with rigged ballot boxes on the day of the elections.
“The quota was implemented in order to appease laws that serve the western agenda for women and the international women's rights organizations not to serve Egypt.
”Many of these laws conflict with Islamic Sharia and the Egyptian culture and traditions including inheritance laws,” Abdel Kerim added.
Gamila Ismail, independent female candidate who contested against NDP candidate Hisham Moustafa Khalil in Qasr El-Nil district, told Daily News Egypt, “The NDP created the quota law at this specific time to win an excessive majority of seats in the parliament before the 2011 presidential elections.”
Ismail filed eight complaints to the SEC for rigging the ballot boxes and the people's votes.
Ismail said that only one of her complaints was accepted by the SEC, which cancelled 300 votes out of 1,800 which were in favor of Khalil.
“I expected there to be rigging and violations in the elections,” Ismail said. “But 1,300 people voted for me in a district where nobody usually votes, I see that as a positive sign.”
Ismail hailed the Wafd and Brotherood's decision to withdraw from the runoff elections on Dec. 5, amid accusation of fraud and rigging the preliminary elections.
“We fought the NDP in the first round of elections, but the NDP wants to be the only player in the field, so let them have that,” Ismail said.
Opposition and rights groups accused the NDP of many violations, including ballot stuffing, vote rigging and denying the representatives of various opposition parties' entry into the polling stations despite their possession of notarized permits.
The ruling NDP won 217 parliamentary seats in the first round, while Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, got none, despite having won 88 seats in 2005, representing nearly 20 percent of the outgoing parliament.
Al-Wafd won only two seats. None of the opposition groups' female candidates won a single seat reserved from the women's quota.
NDP candidate and winner in Giza, Khadiga Osman, denied accusations of fraud in rigging in the PA elections. “The ides of the quota is still very fresh, I was so surprised to hear the fraud allegations, there elections were completely fair and transparent,” she said.
Osman criticized the two main opposition groups' decision to withdraw from the elections, describing them as “weak.”
“This shows that they are too weak to confront a powerful, popular party like the NDP.”
However Osman agreed that the people in Egypt need more awareness regarding the women's quota
“I had to explain to the people in the governorate the meaning of the quota and how it asserts women's role and responsibility in the community,” Osman said.
“It's also a tiring experience because women are running for a whole governorate not a certain constituency, so touring the polling stations in a governorate within a limited time frame was difficult,” she explained.
The women's quota system was implemented in Egypt for the first time in 1979, but it was ruled unconstitutional and cancelled in 1986.
With the help of the National Council for Women, the 2007 constitutional amendments reintroduced the female quota system, followed by a law passed by parliament last February that officially reinstated the women's quota system, awarding women 64 seats through 32 constituencies.
“The quota is still in process, we need to start evaluating its success after a year or so,” Osman said.


Clic here to read the story from its source.