The Pre voting Political Map

							National Foundation for Elections Support           Al Nakib Center for Training and Democracy Support




                           The Pre- voting Political Map

           Overview of the candidacy , coalition & political
                            environment
When candidacy period , that was extended twice , ended on Oct 24th 2011 , the
coalitions map became more clear , and political powers prepared themselves
according to this coalitions map . Mostly , this map was not formed based on
ideologies , but it had very deep levels of general accordance between powers that are
characterized with pragmatism that seeks – according to their point of view –
gathering as much votes as they can . In other words , the ideological division that
took place in the Egyptian political arena between civil liberals , Isalmists & Leftists
had no existence on real land of electoral coalitions , here comes the questions how
was the political coalitions map in Egypt ?? what are the issues that were
controversial & occupied a great rank in the political arena and are expected to affect
the electoral process ?

Firstly : - the participant powers in elections .

Since last June , political powers that helped the Egyptian revolution and that
participated in it sought to form coalition between each other . The main reasons
behind this coalition were :

1) The Islamist trend headed by Muslim Brothers sought to confirm their monopoly of
the legislative authority in Egypt ( Parliament & Shura Council ) . Here the
brotherhood assured that they will only compete for 50% of the numbers of the
parliament after they announced before that they will only compete for 35% .

2) Many political powers confirmed that the coming period needs harmony between
all political parties of the revolution which guarantees their hegemony of power after
the elections .

3)Last but not least , there was a kind of insistence between many revolutionary
powers to fight against the ex members of the dissolved NDP after decrease of
probability to issue the political isolation law against them or to effectuate the
Treachery law that was issued in 1952 against them .

Since May 2011 , about 43,000 parties and political powers in addition to reps of
many Non-governmental organizations in the headquarter of Alwafd party at Bolos
Hanna st , and in the headquarter of the Justice & Freedom party , the political
division of the Muslim Brothers at Moqatm , & AlGhad Party at Qar Alnil , those
powers ( called the Democratic coalition ) issued a bill consists of 6 principles ,
firstly : the right to vote , where they stated the right of everyone that is eligible to
vote to, setting a database of voters according to their ID number , the right of the
voter to practice his right to vote completely without affecting his will or safety .
Secondly : to guarantee the right to candidacy , to facilitate candidacy procedures
including needed documents , electoral publicity , the right of the candidate to observe
the voting and counting . Thirdly : the electoral system , where there was consensus
on the necessity to use the unconditioned proportional list including parties ,
independents and mutual , in case of adopting the mixed electoral system between
individuals & proportional lists , the individual portion should not exceed 20% . In
addition to re-distribute the state to suitable number of districts that matches with the
administrative division , the population density , the privacy of appropriate
representation for some boundary regions , revising applying the women quota for
two rounds , allowing Egyptians abroad the right to run for candidacy and vote & to
apply the electronic voting system gradually . According to the elections
administration & supervision , the political powers assured the necessity to form a
permanent body that administrate the stages of elections which shall be independent .
This body should form general , voting & counting committees in each governorate .
In addition , there should be complete judicial supervision over the elections . In
regards to monitoring the elections , the political powers have asked for a mechanism
that guarantees the right of NGOs to monitor the elections and their right in
negotiations and participation in regards to the amendments of electoral systems and
legislations & to allow international monitoring for the elections . Finally , the
participant powers have set general principles in regards to the elections as to ban and
criminalize any behavior that is considered intervention by the executive authority in
favor of any candidate or party or list , also to ban and criminalize using mosques &
churches in electoral publicity , to ban and criminalize any slogans that urges
sectarianism and violates the principle of civil state , to ban and criminalize all sorts
of bullying or violence & electoral bribes , to set a maximum limit for electoral
expenditures , to abide all media with the media code of ethics , to cancel state of
emergency & all liberty constrained laws before the elections .

Things didn’t last this way ,after few meetings , the coalition ended and was divided
into many electoral blocks , the main reasons were :
- the hegemony of the Freedom & Justice party ( the political party for the Muslim
Brothers) in determining the needed numbers for all the other political powers which
certainly guaranteed its hegemony over the names of candidates even with other
Islamist parties .

- The intervention of the Freedom & Justice party in arranging the candidates' lists
which guarantees setting its candidates or candidates that are pro- the party on the top
of most of the lists in electoral districts .

Due to those reasons , the coalition map totally differed from the planned one .

1) The Democratic Alliance

  The Democratic alliance was formed in the middle of 2011 with the scale logo as a
large frame for the liberal , social & Islamists parties but when the candidacy period
ended on Oct 24th , the number of participant parties in election coordination
decreased from 43 parties to 9 parties , the most important of them was the Freedom
& Justice (with about 7o% of the alliance candidates ) , Tomorrow party ( liberal) ,
Dignity party (leftist ), Alahrar ( liberal ) , Alhadara ( center ) Egypt socialist Arab (
center ) . Among the most important parties that withdrew were Alwafd party (liberal)
, Nasserist party ( National ) , Albnaa w al Tanmya ( Salafy ) , Alnoor ( Salafy ) due
to the hegemony of Freedom & Justice party .

Alkarama party announced running for elections through the democratic alliance list
under the supervision of the Muslim Brothers , they have 15 candidates , most
important of which is Saad Aboud , the ex- parliament member on the top of list in
district no 2 in Beni Suef ( Bba , Samsta , Alfashn ) , Amin Eskander ,no 3 in the list
in Sa7el , Kamal Abu Eita in North Giza district , Mohamed Monib Gabr . Meanwhile
the party will run for elections for the individual seats away from the alliance . The
most significant characters that are on the top of the lists & not from the Freedom &
Justice party are Dr. Waheed Abdel Mgeed , and Mahmoud Al khodeiry for the
individual seat in Alex .

2- The Egyptian Mass:

The Eyptian Mass was formed in August 2011 , its logo is the eye , as a coalition
between civil powers , at the beginning it included 16 liberal & left parties like Masr
El horreya ( liberal ) , Algabha ( liberal ) , Al Tahrir Al soofy ( Islamist ) , Alw3y (
center ) and the Egyptian Communist Party . However , due to disagreements on the
distribution of seats , the number of parties decreased into 3 , Almasryeen Al a7rar
(liberal ) , about 45 % , Social Democratic Party ( Left& Right) 40% and Al tagamo`
(left ) abou 15% .

Almasryeen Al a7rar has about 25 lists that has its name and its candidates on top ,
like the Party `s presidential Office member Bassel Adel in East Cairo district ( Nasr
City , Masr El gdeeda ) , Dr. Ahmed Saeed in central Cairo district, Qasr El nil,
Mohamed Hamed , Qaasr el Nil , individual seat , & Sameh Makram Ebeid on top of
the list in Red Sea .

The Social Democratic Party had its candidates on top of the lists like Dr. Noor
Farahat first district Sharqya , Zyad Elelemy , South Cairo , Emadd Gad in North
Cairo , then Khaled Abdel Aziz Sha2ban by Altagamo` then Bassem Kamel , member
in the Coalition of revolution youth .

From Tagamo` party , there is Hlal Eldandarawy on the workers seat in Aswan ,
Ashraf Abul Gelil , Fayoum ( Professional ) while the rest of Tagamo` party
candidates are in no 3 , 5 , 7 like Hussein Abdel Razik & the ex- parliament member
AlBadry Farghaly on the individual for the Tagamo` party in Port Saeed .

3- The Revolution Continues Alliance

It was formed in Oct 2011 by powers that left the Egyptian block like Masr El
Hurreya (Amr Hamzawy ) , Altayar Almasry ( split from the Muslim Brothers) ,
Altahalof El shaaby El dymocraty ( split from El Tagamo` party) , Almosawa w
Altanmya Party headed by Tayseer Fahmy , the revolution youth coalition including
Justice & Freedom movement , Egyptian Socialist party headed by Ahmed Shaaban &
Egyptian Coalition headed by Mohamed ElJilany .
The coalition lists included 266 candidates in all governorates where 26 candidates for
individual seats , 34 lists were prepared . All candidates included more than 100 youth
under 40 years old , & the lists had 47 women , and two lists had women on top of the
list & there are 10 Copts . The candidates lists has 36 in 4 districts in Cairo , 16 in 2
districts in Alex , 12 in 2 districts in Qalyobya , 20 in Giza , 4 in Port Saeed , 20 in
Sharqya , 4 in Ismailya , 4 in Kafr El sheikh .

20 in Behera , 24 in Daqahlya , 10 in Gharbya,, and 16 in Menoufia , Sohag, 20,
Fayoum, 8, the Red Sea 4 candidates, Beni Suef 8 candidates, and Minya 8,, Assiut,
16, Qena, 12, and Aswan 4 candidates.
The most significant characters on top of the lists are Abu Elezz El Hareery (ex-leader
in Tagamo`) in district no 2 west Alex , Tayseer Fahmy on top of list in District 3
professional seat , Ahmed Haggag in Qalyobya , Mohamed Shabana Daqahlya , &*
Mustafa El Gendy on top of list in District 3 Daqahlya .

The lists of the Revolution Continues Alliance also includes Khaled ElSayed from the
youth revolution coalition in district 4 Cairo , Mohamed El Qasas in district 2 Cairo
Altayar Almasry party ( split from Muslim Brothers ) , Masr El Hurreya Ahmed
Yussef in South of Qlyobya , Mohamed El Jilany from Alta7lf Almasry Coalition in
Suez , Karima el Hefnawy The Egyptian Socialist Party in South Giza District ( this
list faces a problem as she got documents proving that she is a worker from the
independent Workers Union and this is now presented in the administrative court .
Fatma Ramdan fro the workers leaders in Giza , Talaat Fahmy in ( Engineers against
guard ) . Hisham Abu Zaid of Tanta Linen company in Gharbya , Tariq Mustafa from
property taxes in Qalyubia, Mohammed Sayyad of the Pharmacists' Syndicate in
Burullus, and from Altahalof el Shaaby Eleshtraky comes Abu Ezz Al Hariri in
Alexandria, Zuhdi al-Shami (former leader of Altagamo` party ) top of the list d 1
Behera , Ahmed Abdel-Wahab in North Cairo, Abdel-Hafez Hamdy for Assiut, Aly
Ismail for Sohag , and Ahmed Suleiman in Port Said.

4-The Islamists Coalition ( AlNoor)

It was formed in July 2011 by an initiative fro AlNoor Party ( Salafy ) after many
Islamists parties withdrew fro the Democratic Coalition . It includes AlNoor party
headed by Dr . Emas Abdel Ghafoor , AlAsala party ( Salafy ) headed by Dr. Adel
Afeefy ,& Albna2 w Altanmya , the political party for the Islamist Gama`a headed by
Dr. Nasr Abdel Salam which seeks the empowerment of the salafy existence in the
parliament and to gain a better role in writing the constitution .

 The Islamist Alliance (Alnoor Party), runs for elections for the People's Assembly
and Shura with 693 candidates, including 610 candidates for Alnoor party and 40 for
"Alasala party" including 35 for the parliament and 5 for the Shura, 45 for "Alnba` w
Al tanmya party," including 37 for parliament and 8 candidates for the Shura. Alnoor
party runs for parliament elections with 343 candidates on the lists and 134 seats on
the individual The power of the party is concentrated in the North, especially in
Alexandria Behera, Damietta, Qalubiyya, . While the Asala party runs for elections in
Cairo & the North of Upper Egypt . The power of Albna` w Altnmya party is
concentrated in Upper, especially in Sohag and Assiut, a stronghold of armed action
of the Islamic Group in the early eighties, and then comes Minya .
Among the most prominent candidates of the Islamic Alliance (the Alliance of Alnoor
) , Abdel-Moneim El-Shahat, a spokesman for the Salafi da'wah in Alexandria, a
candidate in the Montazah «individual categories», Dr. Hazem Shuman, leading
Salafist on the list of the coalition in Mansoura, Sheikh Mohammed Saghir, on the
list of the coalition in northern Sohag, the lawyer of Islamist groups, and Mamdouh
Ismail, Vice President of Alasala party , on the top of the list in district 1 ,Cairo . In
general, they used the dlogans of the Ansar Al sunna & Algam3ya Alshar3ya slogans
on top of the lists where they belong as they are very popular in presenting medical
care for the people in those areas .

In regards to women , the Noor party has nominated 60 women on its lists and even
some lists have more than one woman .

5- Alwafd Party :

Alwafd party has nominated 570 candidates , most of its choices had a great problem
when it split from the Democratic Alliance after the president of the party was
criticized severely . The party had to take the decision of ending the Democratic
coalition which was taken by the high Commission of the party in a meeting on Oct
5th to end the coalition and run for elections alone . The most prominent candidates
are Sameh Balah on top of list in Damietta , Mohamed Almalky in D3 Cairo ,
Dr.Mahmoud Alsaqa in South Cairo , Fouad Badrawy on top of list D1 Nabroh
Daqahlya , MARGRET Azer D2 East Cairo no 2 , Ahmed Mohamed Sarhan on top of
list in Kafr Shokr , Qalyobya , Mohamed Kaml D2 Menofya .

6-Alwast Party

The number of candidates for the parliament are 322 candidates in 46 electoral
districts 100% of the needed number and 70 candidate for the individual seats (
Professional and Workers or Farmers ) . There are 2 copts on the lists and 69 women
on the lists and individual candidates for the Shura and the People`s Assembly .

Among the most prominent candidates of Alwasat , its logo is lamp , are Engineer
Abu Madi - the party leader at the top of the north of Minya, a rival to Dr. Saad
Katatni Secretary General of the Party of Freedom and Justice and the top of the
Democratic Alliance, Essam Sultan - Vice-chairman of the party at the top of the list
of Damietta, Engineer Mohammed Samman, Secretary General of the party at the top
of the fourth district of Cairo – police Station at Maadi , Dr. Yahya Abu Hassan - the
Treasurer at the top of the party in Luxor district, Engineer Amr Farouk Assistant
Secretary-General at the top of AlWasat list in district 3 in Cairo , Qasr al-Nil police
station , Dr .Mohamd Mahsoub- Dean of the School of Law Menoufia University,
member of the high commission of the partyon top of list on district 2 in Cairo, Nasr
city Police Satation , and Tariq Al-Malt spokesman of the party and member of the
high commission of the party on top of the list on district 1 in Beni Suef, and Dr.
Hussain Zayed - Assistant Secretary General of the party on the top of the list in Port
Said; and Captain Nader El Sayed - a guard against Egypt at the head of the party list
department of North Giza police station Imbaba, and Dr. - Essam cub Assistant
Secretary of the party at the top of his list in Suez, and Dr. Mohamed Sobhi -
Secretary Youth and member of the supreme at the top of the first circle center
Shebeen Al-Kom, Menoufia, and Brigadier General Mohammad Hamid race -
member of the supreme head of the party list in Sohag, also publishes lists of the
Wasat Party in Alexandria, Engineer Khaled Daoud leader of party leadership of the
Department of Muharram, and your leadership Acanutoramr Abu Khalil the top of the
party in northern Alexandria park; and leader Hosni Amer at the top of the party
circuit Police Department Mansoura Dakahlia, just Maghazi on top of workers' list of
Mansoura; and Amr Zuhairi at the head of the party list in the first circle police station
Coast Cairo, Alaa Beheiri at the head of the party list section Police Giza d 2, and Dr.
Hussain Zayed - Assistant Secretary General of the party on the top of the list in Port
Said; and Captain Nader El Sayed – a goal keeper in the Egyptian National Team at
the head of the party list in North Giza district, Imbaba police station, and Dr. -
Essam Shbl , Assistant Secretary of the party at the top of his list in Suez, and Dr.
Mohamed Sobhi - Secretary Youth and member of the high commission on the top of
the list in the first district in Shebeen Al-Kom, Menoufia, and General Mohammad
Hamid Sabbaq - member of the High Commission on top of the party list in Sohag.
There are also on the lists of the Wasat Party in Alexandria, Engineer Khaled Daoud
leader of the Ryada party in the district of Muharram Bek , Amr Abu Khalil (leader
at Alryada party ) on top of the party list in northern Alexandria ( Almontazah ), and
leader Hosni Amer on top of the party list in Police Department Mansoura district
Dakahlia, Adel Maghazi on top of workers' list of Mansoura; Amr Zuhairi at the head
of the party list in the first district , Sa7el police station , Cairo, Alaa Beheiri at the
head of the party list Giza Police station d 2, Dr. Hussein Yassin party secretary in
Fayoum at the top of the party list in Fayoum, Mohamed Omeish at the head of the
party list, Qena, Dr. Mohamed Farid Alsadizq ASG Party Eastern Region at the head
of the party list the Police Department of Zagazig Sharkia, Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid,
professor at the Faculty of Medicine Zagazig University district 2 , Sharqya , Jamal
Etribi one of the founders of the (Sona3 El haya ) on the top of the party list in Meet
Ghamr Dakahlia , Dr. Hassan Hanafi, Director of school of Law at the head of the
party list at the Police Department of Shubra al-Balqlliopih, Major Abdullahi
Mohammed Salem at the top of the party in northern Sinai, Dr. Ahmed Thabet party
secretary at Kafr El-Sheikh at the top of the party list Desouk Department of Kafr El-
Sheikh, Mr. Hazem Abboud, president of the Commercial Chamber in the Red Sea at
the top of the party list in the Red Sea .

7- The Nasserist Party :


Nasserists will have candidates in many locations , the Nasserist party ( its log is the
gun ) has 122 candidates , including 114 in 15 districts in 12 goverorates and 8 on the
individual seats . The most prominent among them are Khaled Abu Kresha on top of
list in D2 in Sohag , Mohamed Abdel Razeq in the list in Suez , Mohamed Abdel
Dayem on top of the list in D2 Assiut , Nashwa Aldeeb in D3 individual in Giza ,
Ahmed Hussein on top of D2 Qalyobya , Mohamed Abdel Azeem Krkab on top of D1
Assiut . On Al Mostaqleen Algodd party , Nasserists Ramadan Zrzour in party list in
D2 Cairo , his brother Aly Zrzour in D3 Cairo , & Sayed Farghaly in D4 Cairo . In the
Egyptian Mass , the Nasserist member Mohamed Abdel Ghany is in the list in D2
Cairo . The Nasserist trend also included Kamal Ahmed and Mohamed Elshrbeeny on
the individual seat in D3 Alex in a way which results in breaking up the votes . In D8
Cairo , the party nominated Hafez Abu Se`da .
8- The ex- regime Supporters :

" There are 37 candidates of the ex- NDP members are running for election under the
name of 8 members , the most prominent of them are Alwafd & Freedom & Justice "
Salah Hassab El Nabay ( the agent of Almwatn Masry party ) said .

Alwafd party nominated in north Cairo sidtrict, both of Eid Heikal and Heshmat
Fahmy, it nominated in the district of North Sharqya both Talat El Sweedy, Mustafa
El Hoot , Mahmoud Abu-Zy, In Assiut it nominated Kamel McCain, and in the
district of Central and west of Cairo nominated Both Khalid Osman El Omda , and
Magdy Mahmoud Ibrahim.

The Party of Freedom and Justice, nominated both Mohammad Omar No. 4 in the list
of the party in the second district in Assiut, who was a member of Provincial Council
for the "NDP ", Farghaly Mohammed Farghaly Secretary of the party unit at NDP in
the Maabada village and Ibrahim Talha No. 4 on the list of the party in Kafr El-
Sheikh.

In the Egyptian Mass , Almasryeen Alahrar Party nominated both Zakia Toaima and
Mahmoud Mehran SUEZ, Salwa Attiya, Walid Al-Qattan, Ahmad Qtaah in East of
Alexandria, Saber Mohalel ,Mohammed Katatni and Sameh Hamidou and Musharraf
Fekry in west of Alexandria, and in Menoufia nominated both Sameh Fattouh and
Magdy Lolh.

The Egyptian Democratic Party has nominated Alsayed Gamal in Kafr Alsheikh ,
Samir Abdel NABY IN Suez . Alsalam party nominated Magdad Shata ( North Giza )
, & Hassan Bahaa Zalt . . Alesla7 w el tanmya masrna party nominated Leila Qoora ,
Ahmed Refaat , Ashraf El shabrawy , Mohamed Badawy Dsooqy , Aly Anbar , &
Mohamed Abdllatif . The Arab Naserist party nominated Talaat Mahran . Alnoor
Party nominated Samir Shoman .


Secondly : the Events that may affect voting on the voting eve .
Since nomination period was ended a lot of events took place and may affect the
elections negatively . What are the most important events that took place ??

a- Alslmy Bill and two million-person demonstrations on Nov 18th , 21st and their
implications .

This period witnessed a lot of events that fired the Egyptian street including :
a- Political powers objected the main principled of the constitution bill which was
revived by the pri-minister deputy Aly Alslmy after the end of nomination period
urged by the SCAF which enjoys the highest rank according to the bill .

The bill included many issues which it called principles that fired many political
powers which are (9) SCAF is the only side allowed to tackle any affairs concerning
the military forces & discussing its budget , it shall be mentioned in the state budget
as one number . Moreover SCAF is the only side that is allowed to approve any
legislation concerning the armed forces before issuing it . The president of the
republic is the Supreme commander-in-chief & the minister of Defense is the
General Commander –in –Cjief of the armed forces . The president of republic shall
declare war after the approval of the SCAF and the parliament .
(10) A council , called ( National Defence Council ) is set , headed by the president of
the republic responsible for tackling issues about securing the country , lawa shall
determine its other responsibilities . Defending the country is a sacred duty ,
Conscription is obligatory according to law and general mobilization is organized by
law .
The principles also included what it called the criterion for choosing the constituent
assembly to the constitution which are (1) Forming the assembly that shall tale the
responsibility of setting the constitution shall be : 80 members not members in the
parliament or the Shura Council representing all the trends of the Egyptian society .
The rest shall be parties reps and independents according to their representation
percentage in the parliament maximum 5 members and minimum 1 member . and
there must be at least 10 women and 5 members that are less than 35 years old . (2) if
the constitution proposal has any article that contradicts with the major constituents of
the state or the Egyptian society or the general rights that were in the previous
constitutions including the constitutional declaration issued on March 3oth 2011and
the later declarations , SCAF is allowed due to the president authorities given to him
in the transitional period to ask the assembly to reconsider those articles in no more
than 15 days , if the assembly refused , this shall be transferred to the high
constitutional court and it is decision is obligatory for all authorities .
(3) If the assembly didn’t finish drafting the constitution in 6 months , the SCAD has
the right to form a new assembly based on the criterion mentioned and it shall finish
the constitution and then there will be a referendum for the people in 15 days later .

Anyway , things got too complicated as he gap between the negotiation parties is too
wide , the Islamists refused the bill completely saying that it is totally a constraint
over those who will set the constitution believing that they are the ones as they
recognize they will win the majority in the coming elections . The civil side has two
different opinion on the bill , but in general they believed it can have dramatic
amendments . The most significant solution was to keep the bill as it is but making it
as a guidance but not obligatory . There was also another solution which is to remove
anything that is related to ban the parliament from monitoring the budget of armed
forces and reform the assembly formation criterion and to assure that the decision
making process shall be with simple majority not the majority of 2/3 .

The situation got too complicated and many powers participating in elections asked
for a demonstration in Ta7rir on Nov 18th to show the public support against the bill .
This demonstration had 2 sides : a civil one that objects the terms of the bill and the
islamists who objected the principle of having a bill .

b- Sit-in on No19th , large demonstration in Nov 21st and the violent reaction of
Security forces :-


After the demonstration was ended on Nov 18th , many of the pple who were injured
in the revolution decided to sit in as an objection of their living conditions especially
as many of them have become handicapped in a way or another . The government
claimed they were a cause fro traffic jam in this area and so police forces
accompanied by army forces have beaten them severely which caused many injuries
and clashed between the two sides lasted until after the demonstration on Nov21st to
defend those who sit in the square and so number of people joining increased . The
last number for people killed were about 40 around the country , about 2/3 were in
Tahrir and the rest in other governorates who held demonstrations objecting what
happened in Tahrir . These were the incidents until Nov24th , and among all these
incidents , holding elections may be threatening .

c-The speech of High Commander –in Chief of Scaf and its effects on the
electoral & security process .

After 12 political and party leaders had a meeting with SCAF on Nov22nd to calm the
street ( Amr Mosa , Mohamed Morsy , Abu El Ela Mady , Mohamed Abul Ghar ,
Mohamed Nour Farahat , Elsayed Elbadawy , Elsaeed Kamehl , Selim El Awa ,
Sameh Ashour , Abdel gleel Mustafa , Emad Abdel Ghafoor , Ahmed Kamal
Abulmagd ) they reached a group of decisions icluding security decisions and political
decisions . Security wise , they agreed to stop all kinds of violence , guarantee people
right to demonstrate peacefully and not to violate public interest . The state shall
handle all expenditures of injured treatment , to promptly release all those arrested .
Politically , to form a national rescue government , to set the parliamentary elections
on its appointed date , the army shall deliver power to an elected president by July
2012 maximum . On his speech on the same day , Commander in-Chief clarified what
they agreed on and added that there may be a referendum to make the army leave
authority immediately and go back to its barracks . In other statements by SCAF
members , army forces were there to separate between the demonstrators and police
officers . at Mohamed Mahmoud st , which made many wonder is it like un forces
separating between two countries ??? as long as the SCAF keeps the power of the
legislative and executive authority why doesn’t it order police forced to stop violence
better than staying in the middle ???

2 The position of voters and political powers in the elections scene on the voting
eve :-

a- Voters
The amendment that happened to the electoral lists is not the most important thing
that affects the voters , there are mainly two things :

the weak security environment which increased in Nov , which                  -
made observers afraid that voters will not go to vote afraid of any
bullying or violence which may not allow them to go out of their
homes or come back safe especially after it was recognized that a
family that lives in the same address may not vote in the same
electoral station .

- The amendment for the constitutional declaration that allowed                -
Egyptian abroad to vote which was a great gap in law , many of
those who defended this right and asked for it were copts living
abroad wh thought they can cause balance in favor of the civil
state but the numbers showed that the greatest of registrations were
mainly from the gulf , which may result in supporting the salafies .
B- Candidates :

  They were affected by two things , one is positive about voting and the other is
negative about the position of candidates so its effect is delayed after voting and
counting .

The positive was the effect on the Muslim Brothers position in the street as they
didn’t participate to protect the demonstrators in Ta7rir from police or thugs and
announcing its neutrality which affected it negatively in the electoral street at least
in the first stage where the voter still has this in his memory . Meanwhile , the
rebels and the Salafies gained more land and support .

The negative or the delayed effect on voting , is the declaration of corrupting
political life law , which was expected few weeks ago , but it was issued late and
cut without any real mechanism or effectiveness . It is enough to say that this law
has decreased the crimes of the Treachery law to 2 crimes rather than 6 , and the
first one was about harming state interest and violating law , the phrase violating
law was removed which made the phrase country's interest a very vague and
general one . Moreover , the penalty of the political isolation turned from being
(not less than 5 years ) to ( not more than 2 years ) and it also give the general
deputy the main role to transfer the accusations to court and added the right to
challenge the rule , all those things have confirmed the freezing of political
isolation or at least delaying it for months after announcing the results except if
the parliament amends the law again .


                       Electoral Publicity , Random &Similar

In the context of competition witnessed by the parliamentary elections , the electoral
publicity and campaigns have played a great role in the electoral process course .
Political parties and candidates have employed all sorts of personal and public
contacts to reach the voter .

In fact most of the electoral publicity were similar to each other in regards to ideas ,
programs that one feels he/she are watching (Cut & Paste ) show .

In addition to all this , electoral publicity started early and before its legal determined
starting date through getting through the High Electoral Committee decisions as
candidates and their parties attached congratulations banners .

What is important is that the electoral publicity for 2011 parliament had an old
heritage and few new features .

Random Electoral Publicity .
Electoral publicity for 2011 parliament for parties` lists or candidates on the
individual seats was random despite the fact that these elections take place after a
revolution which is supposed to have changed many of the circumstances that spoiled
the previous periods .

Publicity banners spread randomly around all the districts of the company , for
example , posters and banners for all Cairo districts especially public neighborhoods
in Matarya , Shubra , Alsayda Zeinab , AlMaasara & Helwan . Publicity banners m
fliers and posters were at the front of many buildings and close to mosques and
churches . Moreover , posters were in new places like Cafeterias , shops & internet
cafes . Many candidates for the list and the individual seats have used slogans like (
vote for the revolution candidate , Jan revolution candidate , Candidate from the
revolution womb , Together from the square to the parliament ) most of which are
vague , loose & empty .

Most probably , electoral publicity and campaigns were more of CVs or posters for
the reason of social prestige , this can be seen clearly as reasonable number of
candidates have written their parties and job vacations on the posters .

Things have gone worse as posters and banners were found on schools , governmental
institutions and even mosques & churches . In Port Saeed , posters of of candidate
Hisham Kamel were on all governmental institutions walls including the governorate
administration official building and schools` walls . Same scenario was repeated in
Kafr Elsheikh where some candidates set their posters in a very dense way on schools
walls and governmental buildings for example the independent candidate Reda Sabry
Qotb who used the walls of New Primary Metobs school and the frontal of the
governmental Metobs Office Building .




Conferential Electoral Campaigns

Electoral campaigns and publicity were very conferential between different parties .
For example , the Freedom and Justice candidates tried to distort Alnoor party
candidates claiming that they are not experienced in political arena and that they were
 always tamed by the ex regime and just jumped over the Jan 25th revolution after its
success , this was so much clear in governorates like Fayoum . In Port Saeed , Alnoor
( Salafy ) party used the public conference for Hazem Salah Abu Ismail , the expected
presidency candidate in front of Albatross hotel to publicize for its candidates and
they have torn all fliers and posters by Almasryeen Alahrar party .

In reality , the tense between religious parties and civil parties has reached its peak in
Port Saeed especially between Freedom & Justice party , Alnoor party from one side
and Almasryeen Alahrar on the other side .

The electoral publicity proved that the same methods that were used before by the
NDP like tearing the posters and fliers . For example the revolution continues
coalition have issued a complaint record against Alhurreya party complaining that
they tore its fliers and posters . In Moqatm district in Cairo , the banners of Radwa El
Ereiny , individual seat candidate were torn by thugs .

Elias viallage district ( Shakshook ) in Fayoum governorate has witnessed some
violations were unknown people tore the banners of Freedom & Justice party . In
Nassarya village , in the same district , unknown people have torn the banners and
posters for all candidates . In the same district , candidate Alaa elDin Ahmed ( tank
logo ) and the Mohafzeen party candidate has performed electoral publicity through
microphones almost daily which caused a lot of tense among the people . Moreover ,
candidate Ahmed Mahmoud Aly Awad , ( independent farmer , lull logo ) has
attached publicity banners with the names of the inhabitants despite the fact they have
not done anything .

Dense use of technology :-

New publicity methods were used through social networks like facebook , twitter and
youtube . These websites were very much used especially by youth parties that don’t
have enough financial resources and due to the increase of its users numbers .

Most of the parties and candidates have set their facebook page for example in
District 3 Cairo ( Qasr Elnil district ) many social networks had controversial pages to
propagate for either lists candidates or individual candidates . The most significant
pages were that of Nihal Ahdy (Alwafd candidate ) on the individual seat which had
more than 10 pages calling for electing her , the most significant one was a page titled
( Nihal Ahdy Support Campaign because she is CUTE ) .

At the same time ,Gamila ABU ismail got great support from the audience on
Facebook and from other facebook political activists outside the district . Asmaa
Mahfouz propagated in favor of Ismail . Freedom & Justice party page downloaded
full clips for its list candidates .

Technology and social networks played a distinguished role in fighting against
electoral bribes which accompanied the electoral process for decades . Many activists
and youth coalitions have set number of facebook pages and twitter accounts calling
for the people not to take any bribe to vote for someone ( I will not sell my vote )
campaign , ( National Campaign for awareness not to sell people's votes ) campaign
& ( vote without money ) campaign . Technology also was used in a very good way to
blockade the supporters of the ex-regime and exposing them to the public . Revolution
Youth Coalition & 25th Jan coalition have set many pages against ex-NDP members
m many famous campaigns were set like ( stop , ex-NDP) where they began to
publish photos and news about ex-NDP members who are running for 2011 elections
and they were successful in locating 70 candidates . The second campaign was by the
25th Jan coalition titled ( Take Care ) where they issued an electronic newspaper
where they presented all ex-NDP members and which lists are they joining .

The splendor of the campaigns and the continued domination of Capital

Those electoral Campaigns have contributed in revival of many economic sectors
especially media , advertising , food , services like entrepreneurs , renting chairs
shops , tents , fabrics shops and printing houses nevertheless , this revival has caused
great upset due to wasting millions in a country that is about economic crisis .

Expectations for the cost of campaigns can reach unbelievable numbers especially
with the splendor of that can be seen clearly especially in large governorates . It
should be taken into consideration that the High Electoral Committee has set
500,000L.E as the maximum limit for publicity expenditures .Nevertheless ,
monitoring the expenditures is a very difficult procedure .

This competition among candidates in expenditures has a very negative impact on
people considering the thousands who really need those millions especially with the
recession state of the economy and the increase in unemployment rate in many sectors
.

Thus m many parties have distributed food products for free or in low price as some
sort of electoral publicity. The most significant was the Freedom and Justice that held
many selling outlets in Ebshway before the Adha Feast for meat in a low price 45
L.E for the kilo .

On Thursday Nov11th 2011 , Egypt National party has distributed meat after Al Adha
feast vacation .

Abdel Baset Qoota , an independent candidate for the individual seat in Hurghada ,
Albahr Alahmar governorate visited many governmental buildings and schools and
distributed pens on the students and employees and asked them to visit his electoral
residence to agree on how they can support his campaign and get money . The ugly
capital hegemony can be seen clearly when Mohamed Abdel Maqsood , candidate in
Hurghada district had many electoral marquee and called on the people to come
where they may find whatever they like of Drugs !! and buying the votes for 200 L.E
for each vote .


Dense presence for Men of Religion :

In order to gain their voters trust , many parties resorted to men of religion like
Alnoor , and The Freedom and Justice party and many others .
Alnoor party held a conference on 19/11/2011 in the district in Sohag to support the
party`s candidates with the presence of Sheikh Hassan . Almasryeen Alahrar party ,
one of the parties of the Egyptian mass held a public conference in Beni Hmel ,
Belina , Sohag to support the candidates of the party with the presence of Sheikh
Yassin El Rfa`y the shaeikh of Refa`ya Method around the country .

It is clear that the presence of men of religion is very wide with the new deal of Salafy
groups with political life . This political dynamism that was created by the revolution
urged many powers like Salafies and Sofies to be more active and have apolitical
party like Alnoor party ( Salafy ) , AlTahrir Almasry party ( Sufi ) Alasala party (
Salafy ) , & Albna` w al Tanmya ( the Islamic Gma`a (group ) .

- Using religious places ( mosques & churches ) :
The High Electoral Committee issued a decision that prohibits using religious
gathering in electoral publicity . Nevertheless , many violations took place especially
after Aladha feast prayer which was a golden chance for religious parties to announce
their programs and candidates . Many parties compete calling for people to pray in
halls. In Menofya governorate streets were filled with prayers halls and those halls
were filled with the Freedom and Justice candidates posters and they were competing
with the salafies . In Cairo district 4 , The Social Democratic Egyptian party has set
many halls for feast prayers and using them for publicity for its candidates .

Many mosques and churches were also used for publicity , Sheikh Rezk Mabrook has
used a mosque in District 4 Giza , to give the speech on Nov 23rd .

Churches began to be a voice for some candidates too which urged the pope to ban
any publicity inside churches and asking the people not to vote for candidates due to
their religion confirming that many Muslims can help Christians and defend their
rights and vice versa . The pope also asked Egyptians abroad not to vote for anyone
based on religion .

Depending on religious slogans and electoral Fatwas


This is an old phenomenon in Egypt which is to depend on religious slogans in
electoral campaigns trying to add religious integrated trend over the candidate . The
most significant slogan used to be used is that of Muslim Brothers (Islam is the
Solution ) . This is still used by the party through presenting congrats for the people
under this slogan and the party set many posters having the same title of ( Islam is the
solution ) written in blue color .

The new thing this time is the appearance of electoral Fatwas like that of Dr. Yusef
Alqardawy and the Godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood who urged Egyptians not to
vote for seculars or non-Muslims considering voting a Fareeda ( religious duty ) and
life necessity asking all Egyptian to vote for parties that call for good and stay away
from evil and taboos .

Al Qardawy has compared between elections voting and testifying in Islam saying "
vote for who believes in good , honesty , & Islam and don’t testify for secular , non-
religious or those who don’t accept Allah as their God nor Muhammed as their
prophet " .

Those kinds of Fatwas have turned into strong war of publicity between parties and
trends that each one began to consider the other in a very suspicious way that reached
considering them atheists . For example in Gharbya D 2 in a public conference in
Damaroo village Alwafd party candidate Ahmed Atallah had to answer all those
Fatwas defending Alwafd saying that it is the only Islamic party in Egypt and that it
kept its principles since it was established in 1923 confirming Islam as the main
religion of the country and the Sharia` as the main sort of legislation .

The Egyptian Mass coalition has attacked in its first public conference in Amirya on
Nov 19th 2011 that all parties that use religion as a trade claim they speak in the name
of God but God hasn't given anyone an authorization to speak in his holly name as the
Quraan and Bible have not set a specific criterion for the parliament . They also
accused all those parties of using electoral bribes to buy the votes through distributing
meat , food and cheap clothes .


Suspending the Electoral Campaigns

Due to the events that took place in Tahrir square starting from Nov 18th where police
and demonstrators had bloody clashes that left tens killed and hundreds injured in
addition to Sharf government resign and the delay of SCAF to appoint a new Pri-
minister and a new government , many candidates on individual and list seats
announced that they suspend their electoral campaigns in solidarity with Tahrir
protestors who are asking for the hand out of power for civilians and forming a
national rescue government .

In that context , the Egyptian mass , Al Adl , the Revolution continues coalition have
announced suspending their electoral campaigns in addition to some candidates from
Egypt National party & the Gabha Party .

On the other side , the electoral campaigns for the Freedom & Justice party continued
its publicity campaign claiming that ( Elections are the Solutions ) for the current
dilemma . Alnoor party , Altanmya w al bna2 , Alesla7 w Al tanmya , Almohafzeen ,
Al Tagamo` , Alghad , Al Karama , The Nasserist parties continued their publicity
campaigns and so is the case for Alwafd party despite the fact that it asked for the
delay of elections for two weeks until things get more stable and until ending Tahrir
sit-in .

                                      27/11/2011