CAIRO - The Electoral Commission, a committee of judges who will oversee the next parliamentary vote, gave on Tuesday the go-ahead signal for electoral campaigns to start on Wednesday, opening the way for a race for Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliament, which will draft the constitution. Commission Chairman, Justice Abdel Moez Ibrahim, said the campaigns would continue to be in effect until two days before the elections start on November 28 when more than 50 million voters will show up at polling stations around the nation to cast their ballots, almost nine months after a popular uprising threw Hosni Mubarak, the man who ruled for 30 years here, out. But as the commission managing the electoral process announced the start of election campaigning, it gave the green light for the nation's political powers to employ all their tricks to win the voters' hearts. This manifests itself clearly in the slogans the candidates and the parties participating in the elections have taken for themselves. Ranging from the boat, the candle, and the car, the slogans, according to some election observers, come to reflect the nature of the next parliament, which by drafting a new constitution might lead Egypt into a new crossing, but to democracy this time. But they also come to give the voters hope that the candidates will lead Egypt into new realities, one observer said. Even with this, old election techniques seemed to persist, a short time before campaigning started by most of the nation's political powers. While the revolution has created new political realities, giving rise to new political powers, and putting an end to others, most of these powers seem to have failed in using new tricks to lure the voters. Islamist parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Freedom Party and the Salafist Al-Nour (Light) Party, were busy introducing themselves to voters, particularly in the poor districts of the Egyptian capital, not by explaining their programmes and plans for the future, but by giving people food and free medical treatment. In Zeinhom, a poor district in the south of Cairo, the Justice and Freedom Party commissioned medical doctors to give residents free medical treatment and medicine. The doctors sat inside a beautifully decorated tent fronted with the name of the party and its "Islam is the Solution" slogan. "This is a good thing to do," said Mohamed Al-Agouz, one of the residents of the district who had just sent his daughter to get free medicine. "Of course I will vote for the candidate or the party that knows my needs and satisfies these needs," he told The Egyptian Gazette. In another poor district, Dar Al-Salam, also in the south of Cairo, the Salafist Al-Nour Party offered cheap beef for residents. The party sold the beef for 38 Egyptian pounds (US$ 6.5), around 26 pounds less than its market price. "I will never be duped by things like this," said Azza Mohamed, a resident from the area. "I know these people treat the voters very well only now, but after they win the elections, we will not be able to see them again," she added. As Islamist parties raced against each other for the stomachs of the voters, they locked horns over the minds of these voters as well. These parties started electronic smear campaigns against each other, using social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Around 9,000 judges will supervise the vote in more than 123 constituencies across the nation. The elections will be held over three stages with two-week intervals among them in order to give the Electoral Commission the chance to count the votes and announce the results of each stage independently.
