Who will be the next Press Syndicate chairman? Shaden Shehab looks for clues Many journalists remain undecided on who to vote for in Sunday's elections for the chairmanship of the Press Syndicate. This may be because, for the first time in the syndicate's history, they have a choice of several candidates and not just the usual two -- the "government" and "opposition" choices. The sudden plethora of candidates reflects not only the recent shake-up in the upper echelons of the national press, with chairmen of the boards and editors- in-chief caught in the proverbial revolving door, but a more general political landscape the outlines of which have yet to become clear. Pundits from across the political spectrum may agree on one thing -- that Egypt is experiencing a period of change; the only problem is that, like everyone else the pundits, many of them journalists, do not know in what direction the change is heading. Vying for the post of chairman are the current Chairman Galal Aref, Editor of Al-Ahram's Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya Osama Ghazali Harb, editor of Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi Ibrahim Hegazi, editor of the independent Al-Osbou' Mustafa Bakri, Al-Ahram deputy editor-in-chief Osama Gheith, Al-Gomhouriya journalist Sayed El-Iskandarani, Dar Al-Shaab journalist Ahmed Gebeili, Tawoun journalist Mohamed Naguib and freelance journalist Nadia Hamdi. The real competition, though, is assumed to be between just four of the candidates, Aref, Harb, Hegazi and Bakri. While in the past it was generally the government candidate that won the day this time round contestants are keen to avoid the usual labels. In the 2003 elections the general trend was, in any case, bucked when Aref, the opposition candidate and a prominent Akhbar Al-Yom writer with Nasserist affiliations, beat Al-Ahram columnist and government candidate Salah Montasser. According to Makram Mohamed Ahmed, Syndicate Chairman between 1997 and 1999, the four main candidates are neck to neck, with no obvious favourite emerging. And the fact that this time round there is no clear dichotomy between opposition and government candidates has, he believes, made "journalists cautious over making a final decision". There are other factors, though, complicating the choice of journalists. The departure of the national press's old guard has been accompanied by charges of massive corruption and mismanagement. The issue of the possible privatisation of state-run media outlets has also moved centre stage, and many journalists have expressed concern over the role the syndicate plays vis-à-vis political parties and the protest movement. And then there are the purely material calculations being made by members of a profession the majority of whom earn no more than LE500 a month. Hardly surprising, then, that all four main candidates are holding out the promise of increased earnings. Candidates are also promising, variously, to lobby for an end to imprisonment sentences for publishing offences and a review of the regulations governing the setting up of new publications. Aref, the current chairman, told Al-Ahram Weekly that he has "unfinished" business to complete, having been elected on a platform that included raising basic salaries and ending imprisonment sentences. Two years, he says, has proved insufficient to fulfill the promises he made. Though popular, observers say his failure to cultivate stronger relations with the government could be perceived as a weakness. While at the opening session of February's Fourth General Congress of Journalists it was announced that President Hosni Mubarak had informed Aref that imprisonment sentences for publication offences would be abolished, journalists are still waiting for a new press law to be issued formalising this position. Journalists had earlier opposed Law 93 of 1995, which stiffened penalties for publication offences, and it was eventually repealed in 1996 and replaced by a new press law. But without amending the 1996 legislation promises that journalists will not be imprisoned have no legal status and judges will continue to enforce existing statutes. The fact that the 12-member Press Council is now more divided than ever between leftists and Islamists may also play badly for Aref, with many journalists expressing concern that the syndicate is increasingly preoccupied with political disputes at the expense of improving the conditions of the profession. "Providing services is not the syndicate's only role and we cannot dissociate ourselves from the concerns of our fellow citizens. Our real battle is the fight for greater freedom and we will not have a free press until we have a free and democratic country," says Aref, whose decision to allow the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to hold a conference at the syndicate's headquarters earlier sparked a heated debate. During Aref's tenure the syndicate has hosted politicians from across the political spectrum and the steps to the building have been the scene of several protests, most notably the Kifaya demonstration staged on the day of the referendum on amending Article 76. Osama Ghazali Harb is a member of the National Democratic Party's influential Policies Secretariat, which is headed by Gamal Mubarak, and is also well-known as a supporter of normalisation with Israel, both of which could cost him votes. "Normalisation is part of the peace process. There is no peace without normalisation. Everyone is entitled to their own views on the issue," Harb told the Weekly. "But at the same time I am bound by the Press Syndicate position on normalisation." The general assembly had decided to ban all types of professional and syndicate normalisation with Israeli personalities and institutions until all occupied lands are liberated. Nor does Harb believe his membership of the Policies Secretariat is a disadvantage. "The next chairman should have good relations with the state, no harm can become from that," he says. Not that those relations are necessarily as cordial as they once were: as a member of the Shura Council, Harb may have incurred some displeasure within the regime by voting against the amendment of Article 76. Hegazi seems intent on turning what many perceive as a politically neutral position to his advantage. "The syndicate," he says, "should not take part in partisan conflicts or allow conferences or any other activities on its premises that are organised by outside groups." The chairman of the syndicate, he argues, should restrict his activities to issues that directly concern the profession and not fight other people's battles. A Syndicate Council member for more than 20 years, Hegazi regularly polls more votes than other council members. Whether he can pull off the same trick in elections for the chairmanship of the syndicate, though, is far from clear. As the editor of Al-Osbou' Bakri has in recent weeks been spearheading the campaign against corruption in the press, devoting several pages of the paper to allegations against Ibrahim Nafie and Samir Ragab, the former chairmen of Al-Ahram and Al-Gomhouriya. While Bakri presents his campaigning zeal as a plus, there are those who see it as a cynical ploy to attract votes. Many journalists also view his close association with Shura Council speaker and secretary-general of the NDP Safwat El-Sherif as compromising. It is estimated that the Muslim Brotherhood controls a bloc of some 500 votes within the syndicate which, in a closely-fought battle, could well determine the victor. In the last elections it was widely believed that the Islamists and leftists had formed a coalition. This time, according to Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef, the group has yet to make a decision on who to support, with some sources suggesting that the Brotherhood is split between Aref and Hegazi. For the first time voters' lists are arranged alphabetically rather than by affiliation to press organisation. According to the 2003 voting list, out of a total of 4,085 syndicate members 1,207 work for Al-Ahram, 525 for Al- Akhbar and 526 for Al-Gomhouriya. Elections will be conducted under Press Syndicate Law 76 of 1976 which stipulates that the chairman be elected every two years, for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
