CAIRO: Independent students swept the polls in the first free student union elections since ousted president Hosni Mubarak stepped down last month, according to rights activists. Student union elections kicked off last week in Cairo University, shortly followed by Ain Shams University. Rights activists say the student turnout was a lot less than expected. Cairo's University had a re-run on Sunday of the student union elections because the number of students who voted fell short of the quorum. The quorum is equivalent to 50 percent on the first day of elections and 20 percent on the second day, according to researcher in the academic freedom's program at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, Kholoud Saber. She said that the students were allowed by the university administration for the first time to campaign for themselves three days before the elections kicked off. The faculty of economics and political science stood out as the most active faculty in the campaigning and voting process at Cairo University, she added. “The students set up booths in-front of the faculty of economics and political science, explaining their political programs and setting a perfect example [for democracy],” Saber told Daily News Egypt. The faculty of mass communications at Cairo University participated in the elections with merely 14 students, as the rest of the student body decided to boycott the elections until Dean Sami Abdel Aziz resigned. The students have bent protesting, calling for the dean's resignations for his affiliation and support of the former regime. “How can we trust this corrupt administration to hold free and fair student union elections,” said mass communications student Mohamed Fotouh. Fotouh said that Abdel Aziz had cancelled the names of three nominees in the previous elections under the former regime without giving any justification. One of those students worked for Al-Dostor independent newspaper which was known for its criticism of the former regime and the others were known for their left-wing affiliations, according to Fotouh. Rights groups issued a statement earlier condemning the army's violent crackdown on the students' protests against Abdel-Aziz The head of the academic freedom's program at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, Nefisa Desouki, told DNE that faculties at Cairo University established a “committee of seven” consisting of seven elected students from each faculty to support the professors in monitoring the elections. Desouki said she documented violations during the elections including the lack of transparent ballot boxes and phosphoric ink — to prevent students' from voting more than once — in most of the faculties in both Cairo and Ain Shams Universities. Students in the faculty of arts at both Cairo and Ain Shams Universities challenged the results of the student union elections and called for a recount of the ballots. However, Desouki stressed that the violations were a lot less than the previous years. The April 6 Youth and Youth for Freedom and Justice Movements decided to boycott the elections until regulations governing student activities and elections are changed. The Muslim Brotherhood decided to participate. “These regulations prevent students from any political activity on campus and prevent those with political affiliations from running in the student union elections,” Khaled El-Sayed, member of the coalition of the youth of the revolution and prominent member of Youth for Justice and Freedom Movement, told DNE. “If [the university administration] allows us to run now to contain the chaotic situation in the country, they won't permit us to run in the coming years because the regulations remain the same,” El-Sayed said. El-Sayed added that university officials supported the former regime and cooperated with State Security officials against the students. “University officials must be elected by integral university professors, not assigned by the government,” he added.
