Student Unions’ Elections: No Campaigning, No Final Lists

Student Unions’ Elections: No Campaigning, No Final Lists

Observers at the Sawasiya Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Center are still following up the human rights violations marring the student elections in Egyptian universities. Concerning the final lists of the candidates running for these elections, field reports include the following:

 

Cairo University:

 

The final lists were scheduled to be released on Sunday, October, 21st, but no election final list has been released in any faculty .

 

In the Faculty of Arts, the center observers were informed that appointment memos were issued for the student union board at seven o”clock last Thursday, Oct, 18th. On Saturday, Oct, 20th, the faculty declared the formation of a new student union board without holding any elections in a flagrant violation to the student bylaw.

 

Zagazig University

 

The center observers were informed that the primary lists of candidates, scheduled to be declared last Wednesday, Oct, 17th, haven”t” appeared yet and there is no notice about the final lists which should have been released on Sunday .

 

100 students staged a sit-in on Monday in front of the office of the dean of the Faculty of Engineering demanding the final lists be declared and releasing names of those stricken off the final lists. The faculty dean told them that he ordered the youth affairs department to issue the lists. However, nothing happened so far.

 

 Monofiya university

 

The final lists have been issued on Sunday, but they were the same as the primary lists in which names of 1400 students university wide were stricken off.

150 Islamic students submitted appeals to the university administration for restoring their names to the final lists but their demands haven”t been addressed.

 

Helwan University

 

The final lists of the candidates in the university elections haven”t been issued.

A delegation of Islamic students whose names were stricken off the primary lists- up to 92 students- met the University Vice Chairman Dr. Rashad Abdul Latif who promised them that their names will be introduced to the final lists which were scheduled to be released on Sunday morning.

 

The university witnessed no campaigning or posters for any of the competing student blocs although the elections are scheduled to be held on Monday, Oct, 22nd, 2007 .

 

Mansoura University

The final lists haven”t been issued on Sunday morning. Nomination papers of 977 students, including 216 Islamic students have been accepted.

Names of 26 Islamic students have been stricken off the primary lists released last Wednesday. These students formed on Sunday delegations in various faculties to meet the deans.

The students running for the elections staged a sit in in all faculties lest their names are stricken off and waiting for the final lists expected to be released on Sunday evening.

 

Ain Shams University

The final lists of the candidates haven”t appeared yet.

In the Faculty of Commerce, the faculty guard detained three Islamic students while distributing the election program. The guard detained them for three hours and they  seized the leaflets which they were distributing and enclosed them with an investigation report which they held with the students. The students are Mohamed Hussein ” his name appeared in the primary lists, Galal Al-Adli, and Hossam Al Badri all of them are fourth year students at the Faculty of Commerce.

 

Universities of Al Fayyum, Al-Azhar- Asyut branch

 

Neither the primary lists nor the final lists have been released in both universities. Nothing proves that any elections will be held.