A Presidential Debate without Sisi
TV presenter Qaswaa El-Khalaly held a debate on CBC on Tuesday between candidates in the 2024 presidential election: Abdel Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd Party; Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party; Dr Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party; and Emad Khalil, a member of the office board of the campaign of current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
On political issues, Abdel Sanad Yamama said: we may “lose the election and win the Wafd”. Yamama believes that taking part in the presidential election is not out of greed for a position, God forbid, in his words, but that if God wills it for him, it will be his, stressing that your vote is a trust and that no one will interfere in the result.
As for Farid Zahran, he believes there are no other paths to democratic change except taking part in the election. He urged the Egyptian people to take part in the upcoming presidential election, especially in light of his observation, formed during his electoral tours of the governorates, of “a state of reluctance to participate”, as he put it.
Candidate Hazem Omar said his first decisions if he wins the election would be to reduce food and medicine prices and to control rising prices.
On the economic file, candidate Abdel Sanad Yamama said that “the Egyptian economy is in a catastrophic state and needs necessary intervention to fix it”, adding that “citizens are now groaning under the high cost of goods and services, and life has become extremely difficult”, and that “reform is possible, but it begins with acknowledging that there is a real crisis”.
Candidate Farid Zahran considered that his programme is based on a set of economic policies which, if applied as a single package, would put the state on a different path that helps solve the current crisis.
He said that “the first pillar relates to the exit of the state’s various institutions and agencies from the economy, limiting their ownership to 3 areas: first, those related to national security; second, those related to providing basic services to citizens, such as education, health, electricity and drinking water; and third, areas related to some important industries such as iron and steel”.
He pointed out that “the second pillar relates to giving the private sector the full opportunity to work, grow and prosper”, and that “restoring competitiveness to the Egyptian economy and the state’s exit will encourage local investors to work and attract foreign investors”.
The third pillar, according to Zahran, is rescheduling the timetable for implementing mega-projects, within the limits of the agreements concluded under those projects, and postponing indefinitely mega-projects that have not been sufficiently studied and do not bring direct returns to citizens, explaining that the latter relates to squeezing government spending.
As for presidential candidate Hazem Omar, he presented his solutions to the economic crises and noted that “the economy has solutions but no magic keys”. Omar believes he has the complete plan to bring Egypt out of its stumble and launch a strong economy that is not affected by shocks and geopolitical changes far from our borders.
He considered that his campaign sets out an ambitious programme to narrow the gap between private and public government education, adding: “We worked on securing the resources needed to narrow the gap, and I spoke with international partners to increase the number of private schools in order to create competitiveness in the quality and cost of education.”
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was not present at this debate, but Emad Khalil, a member of the office board of presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s campaign, attended on his behalf and presented an economic vision that includes confronting inflation, increasing production, localising industry, expanding the agricultural area, attracting more foreign investment, achieving self-sufficiency, empowering the private sector and focusing on transport and clean energy projects. He said that this economic plan is (a completion of the tangible economic achievements) that began on 30 June 2013, and announced that Sisi had completed 15,000 projects in various fields in 9 years, that is, at a rate of (1,666 projects a year), adding that “the new presidential term is the harvest stage”.
International Organisations Monitor the Election
Counsellor Ahmed Bendary, head of the executive body of the National Election Authority, said regarding election monitoring that 14 organisations and 220 international observers had been registered for the presidential election, as well as 62 local organisations and 22,540 local observers, and that 11,631 sub-committees had been allocated in the presidential election.
The National Election Authority rejected the application of the Sadat Association for Development and Social Welfare to monitor the presidential election, despite its meeting all registration conditions and criteria, according to the association’s chairman, Mohamed Anwar Sadat. Sadat had told Zawia3 last September that an official letter had been issued by the Ministry of Social Solidarity confirming the association’s eligibility to monitor the election, given its past experience, eligibility and participation in monitoring all electoral events since its founding in 2004. Sadat affirmed that “the association was rejected and approvals were given to friendly and cooperative associations and councils”.
The National Election Authority set a number of conditions that international and foreign civil society organisations must meet for their monitoring of the presidential election to be accepted, including having a good reputation and being recognised for neutrality and integrity, having election monitoring, human rights or democracy support among the organisation’s original fields of work, and providing a sufficient summary of the organisation, its legal status, its activities and its past experience in monitoring elections or referendums.
Among the foreign organisations announced to monitor the Egyptian election are the Uganda National NGO Forum, Gals Forum International and the Arab Parliament.
Embassies and Diplomats to Monitor
Bendary added that invitations had been sent to all embassies to monitor the electoral process; 24 embassies have applied so far, and 67 diplomats have been registered to monitor the electoral process, along with 14 international organisations with 22 international observers, 62 local organisations with 22,540 local observers, 528 international media observers, both visiting and resident, and 115 media outlets, including news agencies, channels and newspapers, of which 70 are local media outlets, including channels, newspapers and websites, with 4,218 people covering the election for the media.
26,000 Judges Enlisted to Supervise the Election
The head of the executive body of the National Election Authority gave an update at a press conference today, Wednesday, on the latest developments and preparations for the start of Egyptians’ voting in the presidential election scheduled to take place from 10 to 12 December.
He said that all electoral process papers in all governorates had been handed over yesterday to the judges and members of judicial bodies supervising the election, as 26,000 judges from all members of the judicial bodies are taking part, 15,000 of whom have been enlisted as heads of the monitoring, general, sub- and custody committees, noting that judges will be transferred to their committees starting tomorrow.
Sub-Committees for Voters Away from Home and Braille Ballot Papers
Bendary added that sub-committees for voters away from home are being set up in all the republic’s governorates, to enable all citizens who are outside their electoral headquarters to cast their votes, including in Cairo inside Misr Railway Station, Cairo Airport and the New Administrative Capital, noting that 5,550 requests from citizens to change their electoral headquarters had been accepted.
He pointed out that there are safeguards for voting in these committees, namely phosphorescent ink and signature lists, noting that the authority has obtained the names of everyone who voted abroad and lists of them will be sent to the heads of the sub-committees.
Counsellor Ahmed Bendary, director of the executive body of the National Election Authority, also announced that the authority had provided Braille ballot papers to make it easier for people with visual disabilities.
Electoral Silence on 8 December
Egypt enters an electoral silence starting on Friday, 8 December, during which no candidate or campaign may talk about the electoral programme or direct voters, in order to leave voters free to choose their candidate.
The presidential election begins next Sunday and lasts for three days, after voting for Egyptians abroad took place last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 67 million voters will cast their votes in 10,085 polling centres.
The candidates in the election are President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi; Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party; Abdel Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd Party; and Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party.
It is worth noting that the presidential election was held abroad on 1, 2 and 3 December, and will be held at home on 10, 11 and 12 December.
