In the period from August 9 to August 12, Egypt will witness the elections for the Senate (the second chamber of parliament), amid an atmosphere fraught with controversy between whoever sees it as an addition to parliamentary life and who considers it a second chamber for "the militarization of the state", after a poor performance that characterized the parliament (chamber). The first) during the past five years.
The return of the second chamber came as part of a package of constitutional amendments last year, which witnessed widespread local and international criticism, allowing the current president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who took office in 2014 to remain president until 2030, in addition to expanding his powers and the influence of the army in political life.
Questions were raised about the secret of rushing towards holding elections under its financial and health costs in light of the outbreak of the Corona virus, and in conjunction with thorny regional issues such as the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in addition to the acceleration of the war after a parliamentary approval for the army to carry out combat missions outside the borders, in a context Call for military intervention in Libya.
It is scheduled to form the Senate of 300 members, two-thirds of its members are elected in the list and individual systems, while the President appoints the remaining one-third, with a membership term of 5 years.
Rear door for spoilage
Although the authorities affirmed that the return of the second chamber of parliament was a new step towards "consolidating the march of democracy and the principle of sovereignty for the people," this contradicted the reasons for its abolition some 7 years ago.
Returning to late 2013, the majority of the votes of the Fiftieth Committee, which was concerned with writing the current constitution, agreed that the most prominent reasons for abolishing the "Shura" were that it was considered a back door to corruption and a method used by the ruling regime to provide political satisfaction to the loyalists.
In this regard, Undersecretary of the National Security Committee at the former Shura Council stressed that Tharwat Nafi 'said that the presence of another room for the parliament now is "a cost to the simple Egyptian citizen, which is useless and useless."
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Nafeh explained that "if the first room had fulfilled its duty towards the citizen and its requirements, starting with the agreement to cede the Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia, or to demand the presentation of the principles agreement for the Renaissance Dam, there would have been hope in another room."
He added that "everyone knows from within the system itself that the first room was built from inside the corridors of intelligence, and therefore it does not reflect the people, but rather the system."
According to Nafeh, "The second room is also expected to be expressive of the executive authority as well as the first room." "I find no justification in these costs in establishing just a conference room for the orders of the executive authority, especially for a country that suffers from severe poverty and a low economic situation, whether it is in services." Basic as health and education "or others.
As for the existence of opposition in the two chambers of parliament, Nafi considered it "a formality and only an image to form the idea of an integrated political system", stressing that "political life must be an exercise and not just a form."
Control stroke
In turn, opposition Egyptian politician Ayman Nour said that he is not against the idea of a two-chamber parliament, indicating that this requires the beginning that there be a parliament, that there be a first room that has powers, and that there are additional powers that can be distributed to the second room.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Nour explained that "what happened in the past years is that Parliament passed away with a stroke, and therefore there are no more powers for either of its chambers other than to impose on the laws referred by the executive authority."
He pointed out that Egypt did not witness a single interrogation during the full legislative term at the age of 5 years, except for a weak interrogation of the Minister of Health, this year was discussed in order to break the idea of the lack of interrogations.
The former parliamentarian pointed out that the Egyptian parliament during the period from 1995 to 2005 was discussing about 30 and 40 interrogations in one year, not in 5 years, stressing, "And therefore we are currently facing a disruption of parliamentary life."
On the upcoming Senate, Nour said, "We are adding a new, idle room to buy loyalties and expand the circle of beneficiaries."
The former presidential candidate added, "The farce, recklessness and imbalance in the priorities continues within the framework of the timing of these elections, and their cost is in a situation that the country cannot afford, whether materially or healthly, through the participation of millions of people in a process that lasts a few hours leading to more Corona outbreaks."
As for the participation of civil parties symbolically through the Future Party (pro-regime) party list, Nour said it is a "moral scandal."
He continued denouncing the acceptance of the Egyptian leftist, Farid Zahran, the head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, to enter the electoral competition, despite the presence of one of his party's symbols in detention on charges of participating in organizing an electoral work, in reference to the former parliamentarian Ziad Al-Alimi.
Nour also denounced the leftist party's acceptance of being part of the Future Homeland party, saying, "Isn't this a recognition of the abolition of diversity and party life and a return to the idea of a single party that includes supporters and opponents?"
"We are facing a dangerous phenomenon and acceptance of what should not be accepted by the civil forces and parties that would not have accepted much better than this in previous stages."
Tame the opposition
While the "civil movement" parties at home led the opposition prior to the military coup, claiming to uphold the gains of the January 25, 2011 revolution, some of them were satisfied with participating in the "sheikhs" elections and were content to compete for limited seats under the Future Home party list.
The movement has witnessed divisions over the past few days regarding electoral participation among those who see the Senate as part of the constitutional amendments that the movement rejected, and to promote pluralist domination, in exchange for others calling for the launching of a unified list facing loyalties.
Parties and personalities within the civil movement have announced that they will boycott the Senate elections. In a joint statement, the signatories affirmed that the climate surrounding these elections is far from the right climate for free and fair elections, especially with the large numbers of citizens in prisons without trial or even investigation, and with restrictions imposed on all tools of traditional and new media, and on freedoms of organization and assembly Peaceful.
The statement was signed by parties: Al Dustour, Al Karama, The Popular Alliance, Living and Freedom, in addition to public figures, most notably: Hamdeen Sabahi, George Ishaq, Abdul Jalil Mustafa and Mustafa Kamel Al Sayed.
While the Egyptian Democratic, Reform, Development, and Justice parties considered that participation in the "unified list" with the future of an electoral homeland is not political, as there was no time for another offering, according to local reports.