CAIRO: Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members held a demonstration on Thursday at Al-Mansheya square in Alexandria while dozens protested in front of the city’s security directorate, spurred by the prevention of MB-affiliated candidates from submitting their registration papers for the parliamentary elections.
“We just want security forces to ease their restrictions on MB candidates,” Sobhi Saleh, an independent MB-affiliated candidate in Alexandria’s Al-Raml district, told Daily News Egypt. “These are elections — security forces shouldn’t be controlling them.”
The elections for seat in the People’s Assembly, Egypt’s Lower House of Parliament, are scheduled for Nov. 28
“We should submit our registration papers at the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) headquarters or a court. The fact that we have to submit them at a security directorate controlled by the Ministry of Interior proves that we are under the ministry’s control.”
Saleh added that, according to Egyptian law, the SEC is supposed to be responsible for the entire election process as an independent body.
“The truth is that the Ministry of Interior, which is part of the government — which we are competing against — is the one controlling the elections,” said Saleh.
The SEC’s official spokesperson, Sameh Al-Kashef, denied Saleh’s allegations.
“[The SEC] is an independent, neutral committee that is responsible for the elections from A to Z,” Al-Kashef told Daily News Egypt. “We issue all the decisions related to the elections, and coordinate with the electoral general administration in the Ministry of Interior to execute the [SEC’s] decisions and instructions.”
Since the protests and demonstrations, most of the MB candidates in Alexandria are now registered for the elections, according to Saleh.
In Beheira, MB member Awad Shehata and two other MB supporters were detained by security forces early Friday morning for supporting MB candidate Mohamed Al-Zayat, according to the group’s website.
On Thursday in Giza, 26 MB candidates filed a formal complaint to the Prosecutor General and the SEC saying they were prevented from submitting their registration papers for the elections.
“We [MB candidates] arrived at 5:30 am to save a spot early in the long line of candidates,” Azab Moustafa, one of the MB candidates who filed the complaint, told Daily News Egypt. “There were around 70 candidates on the first day of registration [Wednesday], and only 10 were able to register.
“On the second day of registration [Thursday], we stood outside the security directorate from 5:30 am to 10:30 am, and no one from the directorate even showed up. Our line wasn’t moving at all.”
Moustafa added that the Prosecutor General and SEC responded quickly to the MB’s complaint, and by late Thursday afternoon all of the MB candidates in Giza had their names registered for the upcoming elections.
Parliamentary road blocks
The head of the MB parliamentary bloc, Saad El-Katatni, described the security directorate’s stance towards MB candidates during the registration process as “oppressive.”
“There have been many delays and excessive restrictions forced on MB candidates in the Sohag, Minya and Beheira governorates, and many candidates have been rejected,” El-Katatni told Daily News Egypt.
According to El-Katatni, some MB members have been required to submit additional registration documentation that is difficult to issue and takes considerable time to acquire.
“In the Minya governorate, they asked for additional registration papers that weren’t mentioned by [the SEC], including the father’s birth certificate, to prove the candidates’ Egyptian nationality,” El-Katatni added.
Al-Kashef denied these allegations, telling Daily News Egypt, “This is not true and it didn’t happen.”
“The candidate only needs his ID card and his father’s ID card to prove his Egyptian nationality; a birth certificate is not required. [Statements like Al-Katatni's] are not true. All the candidates’ registration papers were accepted, except for those who had missing documents,” he added.
Around 3,095 candidates registered for the upcoming elections, including 218 female candidates registered for the 64-seat quota reserved for women, according to Al-Kashef at press time.
El-Katatni stated that there were delays in the Fayoum and Sixth of October governorates as well.
“After the MB candidates and supporters demonstrated against the restrictions and delays of the security directorate on Wednesday, they were allowed to register,” El-Katatni stated.
El-Katatni accused the government of deliberately stalling the registration process for MB candidates.
“They [government officials] hire [actors] to take a [spot] in line and pretend to submit fake registration papers [in order to] stall the real candidates and prevent them from registering,” El-Katatni said.
The registration for the upcoming parliamentary elections opened on Wednesday and will continue until Nov. 7.
After the final list of candidates is announced on Nov. 12–14, the SEC will review any complaints filed in regards to the final electoral candidate list.
Candidates were initially allowed to submit their registration papers at the security directorate of their respective district from 9 am until 1:30 pm, but Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly instructed security directorates to extend the registration timeframe to 5 pm if needed to accommodate candidate if a larger number arrive than anticipated, according to Al-Kashef.
“Many security directorates closed at 1:30 pm — disregarding the minister’s decree — and said that they didn’t receive any official notification from the ministry,” Saleh said. “This means that either the Ministry of Interior is making false statements, or the ministry neglected to notify the security directorates.”
“All the security directorates were informed of the Minister’s decision,” said Al-Kashef. “[The SEC] followed up on the issue with the electoral general administration in the Ministry of Interior.”
Required documents
The registration application for Boshra Al-Samni, a female MB candidate for the Alexandria governorate, was rejected on Wednesday because it did not contain all the necessary documentation.
“They told me to bring a public service certificate,” Al-Samni told Daily News Egypt. “This document wasn’t included in the required documents announced by the SEC.”
Al-Samni criticized the delays in the registration process, and claimed that MB members were deliberately ignored.
“I brought the missing document [on Thursday], and yet they still kept me waiting until 1:30 pm … [they] allowed many other candidates to go through before me,” she added.
Al-Samni was finally registered on Thursday after she presented the public service certificate the security directorate requested.
Mona Makram, a female candidate for Al-Wafd Party in Qaliubiya governorate, was also rebuffed on Wednesday for incomplete registration documentation.
However, Makram hailed the officials at the security directorate in the Banha district of Qaliubiya, describing them as “welcoming.”
“My papers were [indeed] incomplete,” Makram told Daily News Egypt. “My qualifications certificate was missing. I brought it on [Thursday] and was welcomed and [treated with respect by] the security directorate officials.”
Diaa Rashwan, candidate for Al-Tagammu Party in the Luxor governorate, told Daily News Egypt that the registration process went smoothly without unforeseen obstacles or delays.
Waleed Abdel-Salam, an official in the general secretariat of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in Cairo, told Daily News Egypt that NDP candidates haven’t submitted their registration papers yet. According to Abdel-Salam, they usually do so on the very last day of registration.
However, there have been several recent media reports that some NDP members will be running as independent candidates.
Candidates of the MB, which is officially banned group according to Egyptian law, typically run in parliamentary elections as independents. In 2005, the MB won 88 seats — almost 20 percent of the 445 seats. –Additional reporting by Mai Shams El Din Ismail
