CAIRO: Division and uncertainty dominate the political scene regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections as protesters fill Tahrir Square demanding the fall of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
While many political parties already suspended their campaigns in support of the protesters in Tahrir, others remain persistent to pursue their campaigns considering elections as the only safe exit strategy to the escalating and dangerous situation.
Death toll from confrontations between protesters and police around Egypt has reached 28, the health ministry said on Tuesday, as the violence raged into a fourth straight day.
"We suspended our campaigns and our main priority now is to stop the bloodshed against the peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square," spokesperson of the Salafi Nour Party, Yousry Hammad told Daily News Egypt.
"But at the same time, elections are our only way out and they have to be held on time," Hammad added, criticizing other political forces who call for a national rescue government and accusing them of running around the people’s will.
"They know that if they contested the elections, no one will vote for them so they want to win what they know they can’t get otherwise," he added, saying that it does not matter if people voted for his party or not, but an elected civilian body should be handed the power through elections.
Al-Wafd Party declared going forth with their campaigns, only recommending postponing the elections for two weeks until stability is restored to the country.
"With the current situation, we expect a very low turnout by the voters who are disappointed by the current events, which will give the chance for certain political forces to dominate the political scene," leader in Al-Wafd Party Abdel Aziz El-Nahhas told Daily News Egypt.
"We [members of the party] are continuously meeting to discuss the developments and see how things will turn out if the military insisted on holding the elections on time," El-Nahhas added.
The Freedom and Justice Party of the Muslim Brotherhood, heavily criticized for not participating in the Tahrir protests despite condemning the violence, declared the elections as the most important priority to salvage the situation.
"No solution left to end the ongoing crisis except without achieving the demands of the protesters and holding the parliamentary elections and setting a certain date for presidential elections," the Justice and Freedom Party said in a statement released Monday.
Al-Wasat Party reiterated the previous stance of the FJP considering the parliamentary elections as "half way through" transferring powers from the ruling military council to an elected authority.
The Free Egyptians Party declared in a statement Tuesday suspending their electoral campaign in support of the Tahrir protesters, demanding an investigation in the security violations, ending military trials for civilians and lifting emergency law.
Leader in the Egyptian Social Democratic Party Ehab El-Kharrat told DNE that he doubts the ability of the military rulers to hold the elections on time, confirming that the party’s stance on the elections remains undecided.
General Coordinator of El-Karama Party Mohammed Bayoumi said that the party is not against holding the elections on time, but also sees the possibility of holding them in this critical time as extremely unrealistic.
Prior calls to boycott
A debate among Egyptian leftists had been ongoing prior to the recent clashes in Tahrir, with many leftist activists declaring boycotting the elections, while others remained very faithful that the elections is an important step towards the desired change.
"We need to boycott the elections because we need the revolution to be redirected towards the right path first," founder of the Labor Democratic Party Kamal Khalil told Daily News Egypt.
"The elections will not lead to a strong parliament willing to end military trials for civilians, achieve social justice, guarantee freedom of speech because it will be powerless," he added.
Khalil predicts that the remnants of the old regime will control the parliament as the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) only enacted the political exclusion law on Monday, and the division of the constituencies leaves only the organized forces and the remnants of the old regime to win.
"Organized groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis who have prior organizational skills and remnants of the old regime who have enormous financial resources are the only groups that will fit into the elections system," he added.
Leftist journalist and a founding member of the Popular Alliance Socialist Party Wael
Gamal said that the parliamentary elections are not the end of the struggle, but rather one of its stages.
"The evidence is what we are seeing in the UK, US, Spain, and Greece, where protests calling for social justice are spanning the countries that witness free and fair elections and democratically elected governments," Gamal said in a lecture in the Center of Socialist Studies.
"The elected governments there are not serving the people’s interests. Here in Egypt, elections are sort of a direct democracy for the people, especially workers and peasants," Gamal added.
But Khalil thinks that a parliament comprising only certain forces will never represent the people, hence will never achieve their demands.
"If there were any better signs that these elections will truly represent the people, we would have participated," Khalil claimed, adding that with the emergency law, military trials of civilians and remnants of the old regime controlling all state institutions, the parliament will be a tool to amputate the revolution, and a run-around over the revolutionary legitimacy.
Gamal said that he would have supported the previous argument if most of the labor movement and the citizens believed that the elections process is useless.
"The parliamentary elections are not the demand of the SCAF, but the demand of the people, and a real revolutionary cannot leave the people struggling alone," Gamal explained.
Gamal used the elections of doctors and teachers syndicates as an example of how the masses can react against the systems and authorities that do not represent them.
The Muslim Brotherhood that controlled the Doctors’ Syndicate for years failed to sustain its control over the syndicate in the elections last month, when independent candidates won seats in the majority of the governorates.
Even when the Muslim Brotherhood members of the Teachers’ Syndicate won a sweeping majority vote two months ago, teachers staged a strong nationwide sit-in despite the rejection of the MB-controlled syndicate to the sit in.
"I assume that whoever calls for boycotting the elections is not affecting the voting power of the people who are fully enthusiastic to achieve democracy," Gamal added.
The general attitude
Many who oppose the idea of boycotting the elections see that such a move would not be notable since it goes against the general attitude of the Egyptian masses who have long anticipating the elections.
"During my work on our campaign, I never felt a tendency from the street to boycott the elections," founder of "E7my Sotak" (Protect your Vote) initiative Seif Abou Zaid told Daily News Egypt.
"People are afraid that they may choose the wrong candidates, they fear the responsibility, but this does not mean they will boycott," Abou Zaid added.
Abou Zaid describes boycotting the elections as "nonsense."
"If someone does not see any of the candidates not representative, then they can simply go to the polling station and make their vote void," Abou Zaid said, considering such an attempt as a form of participation.
Co-founder of Mahalla Textile Workers Union Wael Habib told DNE that there are no plans within the labor movement to boycott the elections.
"The majority of the people, including labor movements, are so enthusiastic to participate and vote, people want change by all possible means," said the leftist worker who currently serves as a member in the temporary committee moderating the country’s official Workers’ Union.
"I do not think that the next parliament will be controlled by the remnants of the old regime or the Islamists, they will get a share, but not as many expect," Habib added.
Khalil says that call for boycott are not only from leftist movements, but they are also extended to many political groups and independent public figures.
"When it comes to the labor movement, the scene is really gloomy, you cannot specify if there is a tendency inside the movement to boycott, but the people’s movement in Aswan and Damietta and everywhere across the country is moving in the path of the revolution," Khalil said.
"Those who call for the boycott may be the minority, but I think this is the right stance to be taken," he concluded.
