CAIRO - Five candidates, including veteran Al-Gomhuria journalist Yehia Qalash, have submitted their applications to stand in the October 14 polls in the Press Syndicate, where more than 5,000 members will elect a new chairman and a 12-member board. Besides Qalash, the other candidates are Yehia Qalash, Mamdouh el-Wali, Moenis el-Zuhair, Sayyed el-Eskandarni and Mohamed Maghrabi, who come from Government-run newspapers. They have registered themselves to run for the union's top post. With three weeks to go before the key election, the five rivals have already begun sharpening their knives against each other with fiery statements about their 'reform' programme that will put the troubled union in order and give the press more freedom after the January 25 revolution. Qalash, a self-proclaimed reformist, is seen as the main candidate, who can ensure more State services for the journalists. In his early election campaign, Qalash has promised to breath a new life into a stalled housing project for the journalists in the 6th of October Governorate. The election campaign will run to October 13. The elections will be held on October 14. The results will be declared a day after the election, Syndicate officials have said. Qalash has pledged to solve many of the journalists' problems such as low wages and lack of high pensions and better health services for them and their families. The other four candidates, however, still face an uphill battle in gaining the trust of most journalists, who usually elect their chief only because he can co-operate with the Government and bring them more financial gains from it especially in the wake of the current political turmoil and soaring prices. Although the candidates have heaped criticism on present status of the union, they did not reveal their electoral platforms or any plans to improve the living and working conditions for the journalists, or how to ensure the independence of the the Syndicate and improve its services with the revenues pouring in each year from advertisements. Instead of presenting a realistic electoral programme, each one of the candidate is struggling to woo his fellow journalists, promising them that his win as a Union chairman will have a major impact on their well-being and career.
