CAIRO: The interpretation of the word majority promises to solve a dispute over who will be the next president of Al Ghad opposition party. During the party's elections earlier this month, lawyer Ehab El Khouly was celebrated as the winner, securing 218 votes, 16 votes more than his closest contender Engineer Wael Nawara who got 202 votes. Days later Nawara filed an objection before the party s Wisdom Committee demanding run off election between him and EL Khouly. Nawara based his case on Article 51 of the party s internal mandate which states that decisions approved by the General Assembly can only pass by a majority vote. But the code does not explicitly say whether the word majority here means the absolute majority, which is 50 percent of the votes plus one, or whether it means simple majority, which is the highest number of the votes, regardless of the percentage. Since El Khouly, the current president, did not win by 50 percent plus one vote (he received about 48 percent), says Nawara, he did not win by absolute majority. But leading members of the party disagree with Nawara's reasoning. Engineer Nawara s interpretation of the Article 51 is wrong. The word 'majority' here means simple majority. One of the members of the Wisdom Committee was present when we counted the votes and he clearly stated at the beginning that the winner is whoever gets the majority of votes, El Sayed El Bassiouni El Sayed, assistant general secretary and member of the Elections Supervision Committee told The Daily Star Egypt. I was asked in a meeting before the elections whether the winner should get simple majority or absolute majority, and I said simple majority in the presence of four candidates and no one objected. The Wisdom Committee is now reviewing the interpretation of the word majority . If the committee decides that the word means absolute majority, there might be a run off between current El Khouly and Nawara. The issue is now in the hands of the Wisdom Committee. It's an internal matter, Nawara told The Daily Star Egypt. But until the committee reaches its decision, El Khouly will remain president. I support legitimacy and democratic rule inside the party, El Khouly told The Daily Star Egypt. This party will never become fully established or protected except by reaching decisions through a democratic, transparent way.
