Student union elections put on hold pending new rules

The holding of student union elections, scheduled for November, has been thrown into doubt after the country’s higher education authorities announced a delay in the polls until relevant rules are worked out.

The Supreme Council of Universities, in charge of academic policies in Egypt, said that outgoing student unions in different academic institutions will remain in place until the elections are held. No new date has been set for the polls.

The election delay followed a dispute between students and the Ministry of Higher Education over vote regulations.

Minister of Higher Education Ashraf el-Sheehy suggested that the elections be held on the basis of rules issued in the era of former president Hosni Mubarak who was deposed in a 2011 popular uprising.

The minister did not say why he favoured the Mubarak-era election rules, but his suggestion has angered students who say that the Mubarak-era rules heavily restrict student unions and give security agencies a big say in the running of elections.

Students have demanded that this year’s elections be held on the basis of post-Mubarak rules that last year resulted in wins by mostly anti-government student unions.

In an attempt to defuse tensions, the Supreme Council of Universities said last week that elections will be postponed until new vote rules are in place.

Call for ‘open dialogue’

The council also called on the country’s universities to engage in an ‘open dialogue' on the envisaged rules.

“The Ministry of Higher Education is keen on promoting students’ activities. So the incumbent student unions will continue to do their work until the new [election] regulations are finalised,” El-Sheehy said last week without giving details.

Some students are sceptical that the elections will in fact be held during the academic year that started in Egypt in late September.

“The minister’s statements are ambiguous and raise doubts,” said Amr el-Zahed of the opposition Islamist Strong Egypt Movement.

“[To suggest] keeping the old [outgoing] student unions until election regulations are modified is misleading. Most students elected to these unions last year have already graduated. Consequently, their posts have become vacant. They will be filled through appointment,” El-Zahed added. “The main aim of delaying the elections is to hamper [the holding of elections] this year.”

Safwat Abdul Hameed, a law student at the state-run Ain Shams University, said that authorities were not serious about student elections.

“Under the law, university elections should be conducted in the sixth week after the beginning of the academic year, that is, in November. But there is no sign this will happen,” Abdul Hameed said.

‘Playing for time’

“Had the Ministry of Higher Education wanted to hold elections on time, they would have sought to effect the necessary amendments to regulations last year or early this year. We are now approaching the mid-term of the academic year. So, time is running short. Authorities are just playing for time to keep the situation as it is and fill the vacant posts of unions by appointing loyal students.”

There was no comment from higher education authorities.

Some teachers, however, share students’ fears. One of them is Wael Kamel, a professor of music education at Helwan University, a state-run institution.

“The constant changes in universities’ regulations reflect the authorities’ desire to take control of the situation on the campus and exclude any dissenting voice,” Kamel said. “Security agencies have a strong grip on universities,” he told independent newspaper Al Watan. “Laws in force at universities restrict any talk on the campus about the general scene in the country.”

Egypt’s universities were rocked for months by violent protests after the army deposed democratically-elected but divisive Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Hundreds of students have since been expelled and jailed for involvement in violence.

Egyptian authorities have also tightened curbs on political activism at universities.