CAIRO - Perhaps the women and men who jammed this election centre at the poor, populous Citadel district, south of Cairo, and chanted slogans in support of a parliamentary hopeful were totally apolitical. They, however, had a strong reason to carry the photos of the candidate and make verbal oaths that they would vote for this candidate when polling stations open their doors on November 28. The reason was that the candidate, who represents the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in the polls, was distributing beef and money to the poor of his constituency in what election monitors and this country's civil society organisations consider to be “election bribery”. But election bribes seem to have constituted a growing trend in Egypt over the past few days, or immediately after campaigning for the elections started on November 14, according to campaigning monitors. The pre-election period seems to have totally turned into a competition among the contenders, not over the electorate's minds, but over their stomachs. Whether it is here in the crowded Egyptian capital, in the Nile Delta, or even in the south of Egypt where family and tribal considerations decide who will win a parliamentary seat to a great extent, parliamentary aspirants seem to have willingly and unwillingly engaged in this race for the satisfaction of the voters, using all sorts of things from beef, to money, new clothes, and promises for a good life. “This is nothing short of electoral bribery,” said Alaa Abdel Khaleq, the spokesperson for the New World Foundation, a local NGO concerned with election supervision. “Food and clothe prices are getting very high. The candidates try to exploit this to lure the poor to them,” he told The Gazette in an interview over the phone. As he spoke, Abdel Khaleq and his colleagues were travelling to the Nile Delta textile industry hub of Mahala el- Kobra to investigate cases of candidates who paid money for voters to buy their loyalty on Election Day. A recent report by Abdel Khaleq's foundation cites yet more campaigning violations by the candidates. The report (http://misrtoday2017.webs.com/) (Arabic) warns against imminent bloody clashes between the supporters of the candidates in various areas, and says some candidates use religious slogans to influence the electorate in a country where religion plays an important role in almost everybody's life. In the Citadel, poor men and women danced and chanted to the sound of music and songs made especially for the ruling party's candidate and eagerly waited to get their share of beef from the cow that was slaughtered before their bare eyes Their children, who espoused them to this feast for promises and lip services, started to cry when hunger bit, but their screams and tearful eyes were lost in the middle of the high-pitched music the huge cassette recorders of the candidate produced. Election monitors say money has always been part of every election in Egypt. One monitor told this newspaper that in the last parliamentary elections in 2005, some candidates had to pay up to 500 Egyptian pounds (almost US$ 87) to convince some voters to vote for them. “The People's Assembly Law and the regulations of the Higher Election Commission ban the use of money in affecting voters' decisions,” said Abdel Khaleq of New World Foundation. “By using money, these candidates spoil the electorate and also do major harm to the future of democracy in this country,” he added. The Higher Election Commission, a group of judges, public figures, and civil society representatives concerned with regulating Egypt's elections, sets 200,000 Egyptian pounds (US$ 35,149) as a limit for election spending. But some candidates seem to have already gone far beyond this amount of money days before the elections start.
