Foul Play Accusations in Alex. Univ. Staff Club Vote

Amid a heavy security presence, the elections of Alexandria University’s Staff Club were held on Tuesday amid accusations that the authorities rigged the election process after declaring that all the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) slate won and that the Freedoms slate lost after a turnout up to 1200 members who chose 15 candidates including professors, assistant professors and teachers.
 
The Freedoms Slate confirmed that pressures were exercised on many candidates to withdraw for the NDP slate in addition to denying their representatives access to the voting places and the spread of blank sealed proxies among NDP slate supporters.

Also, a big number of voters complained of electoral rolls and the difficulty of knowing names from them in addition to the fact the place wasn’t well-equipped for holding the election process and that there was a blackout for a long time; this hindered the voting and made a big number of professors leave without participating, something considered by some as “indirect rigging”; a number of candidates lodged several complaints in Bab Sharq police station.

On the other hand, the Administrative Court will hear, on Thursday, an appeal submitted by the members of the previous Board of Directors against holding the elections that was held according to the ruling of Alexandria’s Administrative Court; this ruling upheld the validity of the measures of holding the general assembly of the teaching staff members club in Alexandria University that took place on 18/4/2006 to elect a new board of directors for the club and choosing 15- member elected council; also, Dr. Fahmi Fatah Al-Bab was elected chairman while the authorities didn’t recognize these elections.

It is worth mentioning that the last general assembly of the staff members club in the Alexandria University for electing a board of directors was held in 1994, assuming that the legal term of the elected council would expire in 1997; however, it continued to run the club and did not move to summon the general assembly; this forced the teaching staff members to file a lawsuit and before issuing a ruling on it, Alexandria’s governor issued a decision in 2002 of appointing an interim council for a year.

What is strange is that the governor chose the appointed seven-member council from among the same council whose legitimacy was challenged; also, the interim council continued running the while the authorities didn’t take any measure concerning this outlawed situation; then, professors and the members of the general assembly of the club decided to authorize three of their colleagues with taking measures of holding the general assembly to elect a new board of directors; it was held on Tuesday 18/4/2006; however, these measures carried out by the teaching staff members to restore legitimacy and life to the teaching staff club in the Alexandria University contradicted with the authorities; thus, they declared holding new elections on 5/12/2006.