By Heba Fahmy
CAIRO: The fate of elections in Alexandria remains undecided after the Administrative Court there canceled on Wednesday evening the general election scheduled for Nov. 28 in 11 constituencies, describing them as “unconstitutional” and “illegal.”
The court, whose decision includes the Al-Raml and Sidi Gaber constituencies, cited the government elimination of candidates from registration lists without justification.
But the eliminated candidates that had filed the case are skeptical about the verdict’s implementation.
“This verdict would only be implemented in a democratic country, but this is not a democratic country,” said Haitham Nassar, a member of Al Wafd opposition party, who was scratched off the list in Al-Raml district.
“This is a political verdict that will not be implemented on the ground,” Mohamed Abdel Razeq Baadran, member of the coalition of independent candidates in Alexandria and professor at the agriculture research center, told Daily News Egypt.
“It’s just a court order that will be ignored like all the other court orders we received,” said Thanaa Ramadan, independent candidate for the women’s quota in Alexandria.
The National Democratic Party (NDP) challenged the court’s order.
“[The NDP] challenged the court order at … a normal court which is not specialized in reviewing verdicts issued by the Administrative Court,” Hussein Ibrahim, MB-affiliated independent candidate in Alexandria, who has been eliminated from the registration list, told Daily News Egypt.
”The aim of this is to waste time until the elections,” Ibrahim added.
Secretary of the NDP General Secretariat in Alexandria, Said Al Dakkak, told news portal Masrawy that the NDP respects the courts verdicts and their legal right to challenge these verdicts.
NDP officials in Alexandria did not answer questions sent by Daily News Egypt at press time.
The candidates filed another case to the Administrative Court on Thursday afternoon calling for the “continuance” and implementation of the court order.
“We’re trying to exploit all the legal methods to implement the court order and cancel the elections in Alexandria,” Nassar said. “We’re expecting the final verdict on Saturday (Nov. 27).”
Around 60 candidates including 51 independent candidates, four MB-affiliated independent candidates and one Wafd candidate were eliminated from the registration list in Alexandria.
The Administrative Court issued a verdict on Nov. 11 ordering that the candidates be registered for the elections. The NDP then challenged the verdict, but the Administrative Court issued a second verdict on Nov. 20 ordering the “continuance” and implementation of its first ruling — however, that decision is yet to be implemented.
“We went to the security directorate to implement the verdict, they told us to go to the State Council,” Nassar said. “When we went to the State Council, they told us they already issued a court verdict in our favor.”
“How is it that a big district like Al-Raml in Alexandria only has two candidates from the NDP running against each-other on the ‘professionals’ seat?” Nasser added.
“If the elections have already started with handpicking certain candidates approved by the government to play specific roles, while eliminating others who are popular and might be a threat to the NDP, then these elections lack credibility,” Atef Boudy, member of the coalition of independent candidates in Alexandria, told Daily News Egypt.
“We want the court orders to be implemented, otherwise [these elections] will be considered a shame, and the people are fed up with this,” Boudy added.
“President Hosni Mubarak promised that the elections would be transparent and integral, but these elections are not transparent and lack legitimacy,” Nassar said. “(Someone) in the NDP is violating Mubarak’s promise.”
In 2005, the PA elections were cancelled in Al-Gomrok and Mansheyya districts in Alexandria, but they weren’t cancelled in Sidi Gaber district despite a verdict from the Administrative Court, according to Sobhi Saleh, current MP and MB-affiliated independent candidate in Al-Raml.
“[The government] selected certain districts to implement the court order and ignored the rest,” Saleh told Daily News Egypt.
“Most likely the elections will go on despite the court order, which means that the People’s Assembly will be illegitimate and that is a very serious issue,” Hussein said.
“We have rights and we will try to obtain them through the law and constitution,” Hussein said. “Obstructing justice is a crime and we will continue to pursue the frauds who do that.”
