Egypt: Parliamentary Polls Hang in the Balance

Amid increasing calls to postpone parliament elections, and to rally, instead, behind Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah Al-Sisi, newly-created secular political parties feel further weakened, and are seeking to build alliances to assure they continue to exist.

The majority of Egypt’s newly created secular political parties have already been complaining bitterly about the Parliament Election Law which former Interim President Adli Mansour rushed to approve in his last day in office on June 6, before handing over power to his successor, President Abdel-Fatah Al-Sisi.

However, right now, they worry that the entire electoral process is at stake amid increasing calls to postpone parliament elections for one year, and to maintain legislative powers in the hands of the president alone.

After the army intervened to back popular demands to remove former President, and Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Morsi, on July 3, 2013, Sisi, then defense minister, announced a Road Map that included drafting a new constitution, to be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

The amended Constitution was approved by 98 percent of Egyptians in January, and later Sisi agreed “in response to popular demands” to hold presidential elections ahead of parliamentary, which he won nearly uncontested with 97 percent.

While Sisi repeatedly said that parliament elections would be held “before the end of the year,” and that he was committed to restoring all elected bodies, unnamed “informed sources” have been quoted in all mainstream media as saying that there was a possibility the vote could be postponed, citing mainly ongoing terrorist attacks, daily demonstrations by Brotherhood and Morsi supporters and the extremely chaotic regional situation in Libya, Syria and Iraq.

One lawyer who strongly backed Sisi during his election campaign, Hamdi Fakharani, has even gone as far as filing a case in front of the Administrative Court to oblige the government to delay parliament elections for one year. 

In popular talk shows on private and state-owned television stations, political parties have also been sharply criticized on a nearly daily basis, described as weak, divided and seeking individual interests of their leaders, giving further justification to delay elections. Noting the wide powers that the new Constitution gives to parliament, critics claim that a weak parliament could also hinder the “popular” president from carrying out his wide scale reforms and mega development projects.

In the immediate aftermath of the popular January 25, 2011 revolution, which led to the removal former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and an end to his 30-year single party rule, dozens of new political parties came into existence, creating hopes that the country was finally heading towards creating a truly democratic, multi-party system.

However, that euphoria proved to be short-lived. Egypt has practically been under single party rule for 60 years since late President Gamal Abdel-Nasser dissolved all political parties in 1954, and established the Socialist Union as the only legitimate political organization.

In the first parliament elections held after Mubarak’s ouster in late 2011, political Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the fundamentalist Salafist Al-Nour Party benefited from their large network of social services that they built over years, and won over 70 percent of the seats.

The old opposition parties that existed under Mubarak, and were seen mainly as a decoration as all elections were rigged, nearly disappeared. They were replaced with a few new liberal and leftist parties such as the Free Egyptians Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Al-Dostour or Constitution Party, the Popular Socialist Alliance, the Arab nationalist Karama Party, and other smaller parties.

However, together with the liberal 95-year-old Al-Wafd Party, they hardly managed to win 25 percent of the seats. Mubarak’s own National Democratic Party, whose members were mainly seeking benefits from the regime with no common ideology, was officially banned. It leaders were dispersed over several new parties with different names, and they hardly won any seats.

Yet, that Brotherhood-controlled parliament was dissolved by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), that took over power from Mubarak, days before the Morsi was due to be officially seated as president. The army clearly feared the Brotherhood’s control over both the executive and legislative powers.

Morsi sought to organize elections during his short year in office, but the Brotherhood tailored their own Election Law, and it was rejected by the courts and other political parties.

While the new, post January 25 secular parties played an influential role in opposing Morsi, and were united under the National Salvation Front (NSF) for that purpose regardless of their ideological differences, that unity quickly ended after the Brotherhood’s rule came to an end. They failed to unite behind one figure as possible candidate for president, and many parties rallied behind Sisi, who was dubbed as a savoir after three years of turmoil and insecurity, and the only leader capable of confronting the Muslim Brotherhood violence.

Meanwhile, the parties that were shy in declaring support for the former Mubarak regime came out in full force after Morsi’s ouster, seeking revenge not just from the Brotherhood, but also the new political parties created after the January 25 Revolution and that supported Mubarak’s removal.

These parties supported a return to the old election law that existed under Mubarak, determining all parliament seats through the individual system instead of the party-list system. That system assured that candidates with wealth and strong family ties could win seats. Besides, deputies were mainly concerned with providing services to their constituencies, instead of playing their role in issuing legislations, monitoring the government and holding it accountable.

The law issued by former Interim President, Mansour, three months ago clearly favored the old system, reserving 80 percent of the seats, or 420, for individual candidates. The rest of the seats, 120, would to be determined through four closed absolute lists that are open for individual candidates as well as political parties. Several political parties continue to demand increasing the number of seats determined through lists, and that they should divided according to the proportional system.

“The last country to adopt the closed absolute list system was Italy under fascist Mussolini,” said Sayed Badawi, leader of the liberal Al-Wafd Party. “Why should the votes that my party wins go to the party or list that won 50+1 only? This system is unfair and outdated,” he added.

Moreover, what worries Badawi, and other leaders of political parties, is that Sisi does not seem to be concerned to consult with them in the first place, deepening the impression among ordinary Egyptians that they were useless.

Sisi repeats in his speeches and remarks that he has no loyalty to any particular political party or group, and that he receives his support directly from the Egyptian people. Badawi noted in a recent interview that in the few times that party leaders were invited to events attended by the president, they were usually given back seats, “contrary to Mubarak days when we were usually seated in the first or second row.”

The sharp attacks against secular political parties have left them no option but to try to build alliances in preparation for the next elections when the date is determined by Sisi. So far, there are four major party blocs, and the door remains open for new ones, including one that might receive indirect backing from the president, according to recent press reports.

Except for “The Democratic Alliance” that includes six leftist and liberal parties that opposed Sisi and backed his only rival in recent elections, Hamdin Sabahi, all other parties have declared their support for the Egyptian president. While the “Democratic Alliance” claims loyalty to the January 25 Revolution and its goals such as freedom and social justice, the majority of its centre-left parties are financially poor, and can only hope to compete over a small number of individual seats.

Al-Wafd Party has allied with the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and three smaller parties, making up the “Egyptian Wafd Alliance.” Al-Wafd prides itself in its long history and would not join any other alliance except if it carries its name.

Its leader, Badawi, said he could not unite with the Democratic Alliance because it did not back Sisi. Meanwhile, business tycoon Naguib Sawiris who heads the liberal “Free Egyptians” Party said he would run on his own and did not need to get into any alliances. Finally, the “Egyptian Front” includes parties mostly loyal to the former Mubarak regime, including the “Egyptian National Movement Party” headed by Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister Mubarak appointed after the January 25, 2011 Revolution broke out.