CAIRO - A few days after the downfall of the Mubarak regime and the dismantling of the bicameral Parliament, including the Shura Council (Upper House) and the People's Assembly (the Lower House), campaigning for new legislative elections has already begun, even though the Constitutional Amendments Committee has yet to officially finish its work. Still weird, the parliamentary hopefuls are campaigning, each in his own way, in a bid to book seats in the new assembly, that was dissolved by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, although the rules for running in the elections have not yet been drawn up, as constitutional amendments are still to be made. 'Happy New Year on the occasion of the Prophet's Birthday', is the text of a message sent to the relatives and friends of Mohamed Khalil Quetta, an ex-lawmaker. Quetta admits that this message is a sort of campaigning for the forthcoming elections. It's certainly a new method, very different from the traditional methods. Quetta, who intends to run in the forthcoming elections, has many plans for the people of Damietta, his constituency. “I will do my best to defend young people's rights, as I did before in 1997 when I raised the issue of organ trading in Parliament. I am also opposed to the Government establishing the Agrium factory in Damietta,” he told the semi-official newspaper Al-Akhbar. Meanwhile, the social networking site Facebook, that has played a major role in the recent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, is widely expected to play an important role in the coming phase in determining the shape of political life in Egypt, as many candidates are going to attract more supporters than in the past. Former MP Eqbal el-Samalouti, is all in favour of candidates using Facebook, as she herself has been using it to organise cultural seminars, take care of orphans and distribute clothes to the poor. “Any candidate worthy of representing people in Parliament should not only campaign at election time, as he should also spend money on and establish activities for the people whom he represents, throughout his tenure,” Eqbal stresses. Judicial supervision is vital in the forthcoming elections, in order to prevent fraud or cheating in the first elections supposed to be free of the violations that have happened in many previous elections, say observers. The formerly ruling National Democratic Party won over 90 per cent of the legislature's seats in last year's elections due to what opposition and monitors said was massive fraud. Supporters of former MP Hanaa el-Leithy have created a Facebook group for people to nominate her. Hanaa is highly thought of for her loyalty to the people of her constituency in the Nile Deltat govenorate of el-Menoufia, her sincerity and her hard work.
