The leadership of the National Democratic Party continues its bid in the provinces to ensure the success of the party candidates in the mid-term Shura elections.
efforts range from exercising pressure on independent candidates to step down so that the party can concentrate its campaign against the candidates of the Muslim Brotherhood, to buying votes, to sacking uncommitted party members. The party is thus using the carrot and stick.
In Damietta, the party has started moving in all directions, including the First Circuit (Damietta, Kafr Saad), which is a headache to the Nationals because there are many rivals to their candidate, Samir Zaher.
He faces seven candidates and four Muslim Brotherhood members and a woman. Zaher is using his contacts to force independent candidates to step down so that he can concentrate his efforts against the four Brotherhood candidates. Some independents can easily be influenced and are waiting for the word.
NDP leaders are trying to bring back Samir Tilbani, a dissident who has presented his election papers, by promising him a leading position in the party.
In the Brotherhood’s camp, there are indications to confirm there is division among the four candidates because of the lack of coordination in choosing one of them; and Sabir Abd el-Sadek, a former member of the People’s Assembly and the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in the First Circuit, is trying to coordinate with the other three in a maneuver to pool their votes in his favor before the election date.
He will then face Samir Zaher on his own. In spite of all this, the people of Damietta do not care for the Shura elections.
In Menoufia, the Administrative Court in Shibeen el-Kom, headed by Justice Ali Rafa, yesterday overruled the decision of the administrative body to refrain from receiving the nomination papers of six candidates (five from the Brotherhood, and one from the National Party).
The court ruled that their names be included on the candidate list. They are: Abdul Hameed Sheikh (National Party) for Quesna; Hassan Sawaf, and Abdel Maksoud Imam for Tella; and Khafaga Bassiouni, Muhammad Salah Samari, and Fikri Qura for Birkat el-Sabaa, Quesna.
The candidates’ legal counselor, Tariq Schuman, explained that, if the court's ruling is not enforced, legal measures will be taken, including a lawsuit against the Chief of Security in Menoufia, the Chairman of the Subcommittee supervising the elections in the governorate, and the head of the Supreme Committee; and that there will be another lawsuit claiming the invalidity of the elections, and a third for indemnities.
In Aswan, the NDP is suffering from internal divisions and members breaking away from partisan commitments. Khalaf Saad el-Din, Secretary of the party in the governorate, announced that Abdel Karim Karrar, the party’s Secretary in Kom Ombo,
has been dismissed from his post and his membership has been suspended after his lack of commitment to the principles of the party and his inciting party members to choose certain candidates in the electoral college as a favor for his friends. He stressed that Karrar did not resign, as rumors had it, but was sacked and his membership suspended, and that Nader Salah Eddin has taken his place. In Menya,
Dr. Bahaa Fikri, Secretary of the NDP there, affirmed that the party's nominations have not changed. He denied reports that some party dissenters have been chosen to run for the Fifth Circuit following the decision of the Commission to receive nomination applications, excluding Mohamed Ghorbani Mohamed’s because he failed to submit documents certifying his proficiency in reading and writing.
Fikri emphasized that Ghorbani has submitted a petition of grievance, that the Committee has taken official note of it, and that the party is waiting for the Committee’s decision, which will be announced this evening.
The resolution also includes four others: Hashim Mohammed Khalaf Abozaid, running for the First Circuit; Abd Al-Rahim Abdel Salam Mahmoud, from the Muslim Brotherhood and candidate for the First Circuit; and Sabir Mohamed Hassanein and Hamad Mahmoud Mohamed, for the Fourth District.
In South Sinai, the National Party's candidate for the Shura Council elections, Salam Gharieb, began his election campaign by distributing grants, saying they were provided by the party.
Yesterday, he handed out money to 34 widows and women divorcees and breadwinners in the valley of Mount Sinai, and took with him a staff of the Directorate of Social Solidarity.
A rival candidate claims that the money, amounting to a hundred thousand pounds, was taken out of the financial dues paid by members of the party months ago and earmarked for youth centers and to help young people and NGOs.
When Salam Gharieb was confronted with this accusation, he said that the distribution of the money was to assist the needy in a formal and legal way, and denied that it was to promote his election campaign.
In Sharkia, Reda Daoud conceded his right to run in the elections for the Second Circuit, whose center is Minya el-Kamah, after he had submitted his papers. This leaves 11 candidates in the race for the group’s seat in the Shura Council.
As for the labors’ seat, two NDP members from Belbeis, Ibrahim Hegazi and Salah Al-Deeb, are competing against each other for the first time.
Brigadier Abdarauf Al-Serafi, Director of Criminal Investigation, affirmed that the original number of candidates was 56. Nine were excluded for not completing their papers, bringing the number down to 47. It went down again to 46 after a candidate dropped out for an unknown reason.
