As expected, almost as soon as the period of electoral publicity for the midterm renewal election of the Egyptian Shura Council started, it was dominated by a climate of calm. Indeed, except for a few measures affecting Muslim Brotherhood candidates in a few districts, the climate bears no indication of an electoral race to begin with. Most noteworthy is the near complete absence of women and Copts from the race, despite the rosy talk of political movement, of women obtaining part of their rights and of the necessity of the Copts being represented in the two houses of Parliament. Furthermore, Human Rights organizations and civil society groups have continued to demand that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) lead other political parties by its example and put forward women and Copts on its electoral lists, on the basis that the NDP is the most capable of supporting its candidates. Yet the party has, at every election, settled for putting forward as candidates only a very small of women and Copts, as if it feared the loss of any seat from its members, at a time when there is no chance of intense competition with any other party or even Muslim Brotherhood candidates in the Shura Council elections. And people wonder: if this is the level of representation the ruling party wants for women and Copts in the Shura Council elections, then what will be its stance in the People's Assembly elections scheduled before the end of this year, which all political forces are interested in and where the competition will be fierce? It is noteworthy that the major figures of the ruling party, when they appear before the public in a television show, put forward opinions that support the candidacy of women and Copts, and in fact demand this of political parties. Yet later the lists of NDP candidates to any elections turn out not to be this way. Thus applies to the party the Egyptian saying: “I hear your words and I believe you, I see your affairs and I am amazed”. On the whole, the matter remains a mere example and a symptom of the illness of the political party system in Egypt and of elections that are based on the individualist system, where people vote for candidates on the basis of their identity, not that of their competence and capabilities. When the elections were taking place in accordance with the system of absolute or proportional lists, the representation of women and Copts was guaranteed and active. But the ruling party, which rejects making any constitutional amendments before the next elections to modify the articles concerning the way the President of the Republic is elected, and which also rejects the amendment of laws connected to the electoral system and the method of voting or representation, has the opportunity to put forward women and Coptic candidates. Yet it seems that its desire to take hold of parliament seats leaves no space for the suggestions and wishes of its major figures in reality, leaving them mere opinions meant to enrich satellite television shows and improve the party's image. Then the elections come to expose the true nature and true color of everything. It is true that the Egyptians have in recent days been interested in the measures taken which affected the angry and protesting workers and employees, who protested in front of the two houses of Parliament, the People's Assembly and the Shura Council, much more than they were interested in the Shura Council elections. Yet the country's political future remains contingent on the electoral system and the extent of the political will of political parties and forces for the fair representation of the different segments of the population in the houses of parliament. The list of candidates for the Shura Council elections was only the consecration of the practices that had prevailed in past years. There is still hope for this to change before the People's Assembly elections, but the current picture bears no indication of any change.
