By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: Even though they played as teammates for both Egypt’s national football team and for the Ahly football club 20 years ago, today Ahmed Shobeir and Taher Abo Zeid are competing against one another as party rivals on the political scene.
Both football legends are running in the People’s Assembly (PA) elections this year. Shobeir, an MP of the last parliament, will represent the National Democratic Party (NDP) in the city of Tanta, while Abo Zeid will represent Al-Wafd in Shubra.
“It is an open political theater, and only those who will prove worthy to represent the people in the parliament will win,” Shobeir told Daily News Egypt.
Besides outlining electoral programs and starting publicity campaigns, various political parties competed to convince celebrities of sports and entertainment to run in the elections in an attempt to garner extra votes due to the celebrities’ popularity.
“Being a celebrity saves the candidate the effort of introducing himself to the voters who think of him as someone capable of easily solving their problems — which isn’t true all the time,” said Shobeir.
While no actors have ever made it to the PA, Shobeir started a trend of sports figures becoming MPs after he won the legislative elections in Tanta in 2005. This year, however, many are following in Shobeir’s footsteps in the hopes of winning a parliamentary seat.
“I have gained a lot of experience since joining the parliament as a legislator and policy maker, and I am satisfied with my performance,” Shobeir stated. “I am convinced that I fulfilled my [responsibilities].”
However, the political position had its negative repercussions, according to Shobeir. He said that if hadn’t he been a MP, he would not have received nearly as much media attention as he did during disputes he faced as both a media person and as the former vice president of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA).
In Port Said, current EFA Vice President Hani Abo Reda will represent the NDP, while Mahmoud Al Shamy, an EFA board member, will represent the NDP in Mahalla. Sayed Gohar, Vice President of Tersana football club, is favored to win the elections in Dokki and Agouza as its NDP candidate.
Representing female sports figures is Sahar Al-Hawary — a former board member of the EFA and a women’s football supervisor in Egypt — who is running in Fayoum as part of the women’s quota.
Enjoying the advantages of their already large popularity among voters, most of these prominent sports figures-turned-politicians are predicted to easily win their respective districts in the upcoming elections. This prediction is an especially safe one for celebrities running as NDP candidates, who have the added bonus of receiving extensive financial support from the ruling party.
However, this year proves to be an unusual one, as many celebrities opted to run in the elections as representatives of opposition parties rather than the NDP.
In Minya, former Zamalek football player Tarek Al-Sayed is representing Al-Wafd, who is facing fierce competition against the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in the Bani Mazar constituency.
Abo Zeid — whose grandfather Momtaz Nassar headed the opposition bloc in the PA during the 1970s and 1980s as a representative of Al-Badara constituency in Assiut — is running against MB candidate Hazem Farouk and NDP candidate Ali Radwan in Al-Sahel constituency just north of Cairo.
“Al-Wafd is the closest party to my heart, and since Al-Sayed Al-Badawy came to power, the party has been trying to cause social mobilization,” Abo Zeid said.
Famous actress Samira Ahmed is also running in the Bab Al-Shaariya constituency as an Al-Wafd candidate.
Ahmed said she has nothing against the NDP, and that she chose to represent Al-Wafd as because it’s one of the main political parties in Egypt.
“I am not in a battle,” Ahmed told Daily News Egypt. “My only aim is to serve the people of the constituency out of my love for my country. My colleagues are supporting me, and I would have done the same if any of them ran in the elections. [All of us in the movie industry] hope an artist can represent us in parliament.”
However, not every celebrity is qualified to participate in parliament, according to Shobeir.
“Some [of the celebrities running for office] have adequate credentials and political awareness — but others may not be capable of fulfilling the duties of the position,” Shobeir stated.
Shobeir said many people expect favors from MPs and have difficulty viewing them as actual policy makers.
“[Most people] expect [MPs] to hire their sons, pave roads, provide access to water, and assume that it is an easy task for the MP, which is not true,” said Shobeir.
Shobeir has previously been accused of using his parliamentary position to his advantage; however, he strongly denied these allegations, stating that he spent LE 5 million on his constituency and provided it with services worth LE 200 million.
Not every celebrity was able to participate in this year’s elections. Several former football players and sports figures applied to run in the elections as NDP candidates, but failed to make it to the final candidates’ roster, such as former Benfica football player Abdel Sattar Sabry, Zamalek’s coach Metemed Gamal, EFA board member Magdi Abdel Ghani, and Ahly board member Al Amry Farouk.
