Assembly of DissidentsAn Analytical Study on Social Interaction with the Egyptian

Parliament

Prepared ByEssam Shiha

Attorney-at-LawInfront of the Cassation and Supreme

Administrative Court

Assembly of Dissidents

₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Prepared by:

Mr. Essam Shiha

Publisher:

Maat Centre for Legal and Constitutional Studies

Registration Number: /2008

Supported By:

Middle East Partnership Initiative

Address:

King Faisal Street- Borg Al-Atebaa- 9th Floor-Appt. 908-Giza

Fax: 37759512

Mobile: 6521175 012- 6521170 012

Email: info@maat-law.org – maat_law@yahoo.com

Director of the Centre:

Mr. Ayman Okeil

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Why the Assembly of Dissidents?

The active observer can obviously realize the extend of dissent and disagreement among members of parliament regarding constitutional amendments and draft laws, let alone requests of investigations and apprehension. It is worth noting that not a single law has been passed or amended with the total consent of all members of parliament, on the other hand, all laws that have been passed managed to do through the mechanical majority of the National Democratic Party (NDP), even if the matter required violating what has been previously passed of laws. From here, stems the correct naming of this assembly in its current session,” the Assembly of Dissidents”.

Target Governorates:

Greater Cairo ( Cairo-Giza-Qalibyiah)

Dakliyah

Menya

Target Catagories:

The project aims at forming 3 popular committees from popular leaderships with the rate of a committee inside each governorate among the target governorates with 25 participants having the mission of evaluating the performance of the Assembly and the extend of its capability in expressing peoples’ desires and ambitions through communication with a number of deputies in elected legislative councils and opening a discussion forum with them in order to come up with recommendations and means of joint collaboration to achieve realized solutions.

Provided that the beginning shall be the selection of members for popular committees among candidates (200 candidates) in each sector

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪and conduct hearing sessions with them in order to choose the best qualified among them for carrying out the targets of the project.Training Program:

3 training programs have been carried out in each of the target governorates with a total of 9 programs aiming at familiarizing participants with the Egyptian political system, the role of the parliament and its historical evolution, its activities, skills and criteria for evaluating parliamentary performance.

Communal Committees:

Communal committees shall be composed of the target category in each governorate ( 25 volunteer) from popular leaderships in addition to members of the Egyptian Parliament. 5 joint sessions shall be held with the rate of a session each month to discuss and evaluate the role of the parliament in dealing with major national issues (education-health-unemployment-housing-transportation-local issues-political reform…..etc) provided that each session shall be preceded with a draft working paper on behalf of project coordinators on the national vision of parliament in dealing with the suggested issue. The draft working paper shall serve as a background for the specialized discussions on local community issues. The sessions shall come up with solutions or suggestions or recommendations identifying means of dealing with problems and mechanisms of overcoming them.

The main aim for the study at hand is to evaluate the performance of the Egyptian Parliament and the extend of its capability in expressing peoples’ desires and ambitions through measuring the opinion of voters in target governorates, namely, Cairo, Giza, Qalibyiah, Dakliyah and Menya and that is through the evaluation of the parliamentary performance of deputies in the above mentioned electoral districts, the extend of representing the ambitions and needs for which they were elected, their knowledge of the role of parliament and deputy competencies stated in the Constitution and the Law and that is through carrying out a survey including a number of key questions.

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Introduction

The ideal mode of governance changes according to prevailing conditions of time, place and people being governed. However, while agreeing to the relativity of modes of governance, there is no doubt that there are some modes that are closer to the ideal pursued by all and some other modes are completely far from ideal. In an attempt to demonstrate human trials in the field of governance, we find out that humanity knew three major types of modes of governance as follows:

Firstly: Patriarchal Rule: it is a mode of governance which places complete authority in the hands of one individual, to whom the people completely submit in all matters. It is considered to be a type of suicide. Examples of this mode of governance are: The single party system in most of the third world countries. It is sufficing to emphasize that the single party system or the single political organization usually leads to the formation of dictatorships and prevents revealing errors at the right time.

Secondly: Rule of the Few (Aristocracy Rule): Governance lies within the hands of those who are qualified for it.

Thirdly: Democratic Rule: its slogan is: the government of the people by the people and for the people. It is a mode of governance which does not hand in authority to a single individual but to the people at large. Democracy is based on two major building blocs which are:Voters: who are citizens having the right to voteCandidates: who are elected according to a number of preconditions in addition to having proper education and proper age granting the ability to practice legislative tasks as well as political awareness.

Electoral Democracy:

It is the most applied in our modern times. It is based on the fact that if the people are the source of all authority, they should not practice such authorities directly, however, such authorities are to be practiced

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪through the selection of deputies in the peoples’ name and for their best interest. Electoral democracy has evolved through the trials of nations and constitutional jurisprudence asserts that the building blocs of electoral democracy are four as follows:

An elected Assembly: under our current Constitution promulgated in 1971 prior to its amendment in 1980. There was only one Assembly; however, the Egyptian Parliament under the 1923 Constitution was composed of two Assemblies namely: the Senate and the Congress. Following the year 1980, its composition included two assemblies namely, the Peoples’ Assembly and the Shura Council.

Does the Member of Parliament (MP) represent the whole nation or its electoral district only? :

This issue has been a point of controversy and elicited many opinions such as:The freedom of the Member of Parliament to express his own views

without being restricted to obligatory instructions given by voters.The member of parliament has only the public interest in his/her

mind not only the best interest of his voters and thus has the right to defend any issue that matters to the public interest even if it contradicts with the narrow interests of his electoral district. For instance, the approval of MPs representing Nubia on the construction of the High Dam, was not considered a violation of parliamentary requirements, as long as it achieves the best interest of the nation as a whole.Voters- in an ideal electoral democracy- may not dismiss their

deputy on the basis that he/she no longer represents their real hopes and needs.

The right of Voters to dismiss their deputy:

This is common in the United States of America, where voters can request the dismissal of their deputy before the end of his/her natural term, if a defined number of voters- ranging from four to five voters-

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪filed this request and elections are to be repeated in the designated electoral district and the dismissed deputy may participate in the repeated round of elections and may defend himself/herself against alleged accusations of misrepresentation. If the same deputy was re-elected, his election expenses shall be borne by those who requested his dismissal and thus a defined bail shall be deposited upon filing the dismissal request.

The electoral scene is totally different in Egypt, despite the widely spread phenomenon of deputies changing their party affiliation or capacities by moving to the Government’s party after being elected. This phenomenon was easily noticeable in the parliamentary elections of 2005, when a large number of independent candidates became members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and thus the government managed to control the parliament through this method.

The Age of Parliaments:

It became very apparent to the world that democratic transition requires a strong parliament and that the role of parliaments in political life is on the rise to the extent that some observers call our age,” the age of parliaments”. Countries started revisiting the concept of a strong parliament and its competencies. Furthermore, countries started conducting periodic and transparent elections, allowing public opinion to follow up parliamentary activities through various means such as airing parliamentary sessions, the press and the freedom of reviewing minutes of meeting, at the same time supporting MPs with required legal and parliamentary knowledge to practice their tasks. The key question is no longer: Do we need a parliament to achieve democracy? But became: How can the parliament become strong enough to support the achievement of democracy? .

Thus, the establishment of parliaments became a vital cornerstone in democratic life and a mandatory stage in the process of democratic transition. Furthermore, the development of parliamentary performance became the key to political reform.

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

How Parliaments Came About?

The establishment of parliaments was not an invention, but came about as a result of historical events which made it up and defined its form and shape. The appearance of parliaments came on stages full of several difficulties and challenges, where parliaments were able to fight for its authorities under dictatorships and patrimonial modes of rule.

Some opinions go further to maintain that the main reason behind the establishment of parliaments is the achievement of social stability in its comprehensive sense.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Parliamentary System:

Advantages:

The interaction between powers sometimes leads to enforcing democracy and preventing dictatorships in addition to facilitating the knowledge of the real responsible for errors in the light of political responsibility.

Disadvantages:

May lead to governmental instability in some countries, also, in the light of political and opposition trends, it becomes difficult for the performance of the government to gain support and that may lead the government to fall under the influence of pressure groups and thus narrow political affiliations shall gain more importance in the political scene.

Formation of Parliament:

Basically, a parliament is formed through election; however, it may include certain appointment elements in order to complete its efficiency.

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Parliament Mandate:

The parliament practices its normal mandate that is stated in a parliamentary system. As for the Senate or the Shura Council, it merely practices a consultancy mandate.

The peoples’ Assembly in Egypt:

It is the key legislative member in Egypt. The constitution stated its mandate in a general sense in article 86 which states that,” the Peoples’ Assembly shall be responsible for legislature, deciding the general policy of the state and the general social and economic plan, the general budget for the state and practices the review process on the tasks of the executive power, according to the constitution”.

Financial Mandate:

It is stated in articles 114 until 123 of the Constitution which state that:

Article 114:“The Peoples’ Assembly shall determine the general plan for economic and social development. The law shall define the method of preparing the plan and presenting it to the Peoples’ Assembly”

Article 115 (replaced according to the referendum of 26/3/2007):

“The draft general budget of the state must be represented to the Peoples’ Assembly at least 3 months in advance before the start of the financial year and it shall not be considered applicable unless it has been approved by the Assembly. Each chapter of the draft budget shall be subject to the members’ votes. The Assembly may amend expenses stated in the draft budget except those expenses which are considered as an execution of a definite obligation of the state. If the amendment resulted in an increase in expenses, the Assembly must agree with the government on finding sources of financing such amendment…………if the new budget has not been approved before the beginning of the

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪financial year, the old budget shall be applicable for the period of 60 days, after which the President has the right to issue a new budget.

Political Mandate:

The government is responsible infront of the Assembly as follows:

The right to question The right to suggest a public matter for discussion Expressing needs Investigation and tracking facts

The right to interrogate: It is one of the most important parliamentary tools infornt of the government where one or ministers shall be held responsible and thus it has been given great care when mentioned in the Constitution.

Aims of the Study

The main aim of the study is to evaluate the performance of the Egyptian Parliament and the extend of its capability in expressing public needs and ambitions and in order to be able to define the above, several questions must be answered which are:

What is the end result of having a parliament? What is a parliament? And how and why was it established? What is the meaning of the word”Assembly or Council”? Why do people join an assembly or a council? Why do people elect a certain candidate? What is the nature of

the interests of voters? Was the parliament established for defending political, social

and economic interests or family interests or tribal interests or national interests?

How can confidence be increased in the parliament?

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪The study tries to answer the above mentioned questions and aims at evaluating the parliamentary performance in the first place through recording and analyzing the extend of members’ practice for the roles they were elected for according to the Constitution and executive regulations of the Assembly and the extend of the contribution in directing governmental policies or achieving a vital and efficient review of these policies.

Nevertheless the process of recording in itself might not sufficient enough for evaluating performance since the real performance of the Assembly and its members, the extend of becoming closer to or further from the ideal efficiency of performance is connected with the previous quality of the performance of the Assembly whether the legislative, the political, or the supervisory performance. The key to proper evaluation does not lie in the quantity but in the quality of performance.

It is worth noting that despite the long history of the electoral experience in Egypt, yet the performance of the Assembly has not gained any sufficient interest or creditability from public opinion and that is due to the mixing up which occurs between public and private opinions and the interest of most MPs in the private affairs of their electoral districts at the expense of their public roles in supervision and legislature.

Parliamentary Elections

Parliamentary elections of the Egyptian Peoples' Assembly were conducted in November of 2005. Needless to mention that the controversy regarding the political reform and its priority in the national agenda was reflected in the results of the elections, let alone the constitutional experience of amending article 76 of the Egyptian Constitution which deals with the method of selecting the president.

It is worth mentioning that the Peoples' Assembly completed nearly 37 years of its life, where political conditions greatly changed since the appearance of the Assembly under a single party system ( 1971-1976)

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪then a tri-party system(1979-1979) and finally a multi-party system existing today of 24 political parties, some of which are active in the political scene.

It is also worth mentioning that the Assembly started its activity under ac economic system totally managed and directed by the state in all its details and which was later transformed into an open door policy lacking a lot of control. The Assembly had to bear the responsibility of participating in stabilizing the economic situation, correction and direction of economic forces since deputies are the closest to the people and able to voice their concerns and complaints to the Assembly.

On the other hand, the political, social and economic dimension of the social context retains a great deal of importance in studying the election process on the basis of a key assumption that the nature of the process, its developments and results are the end result of such context or social environment.

It is worth noting that the adoption of an open door policy was one of the main reasons for announcing a trend towards,” more democratic steps”. Thus, parliamentary elections in Egypt are carried out in the light of this cause and effect relationship, nevertheless, there are restrictions in this regard, the most important of which are the following:

1. There is no mechanical relationship between a market economy or an open door policy and democracy with its electoral mechanisms. The above is merely an ideal hypothesis.2. Political pluralism has not been carried out within the natural framework of development in Egypt, however, democracy was imposed from the top, in other words, the open door policy adopted in the mid 1970s had two sides, political and economic.It is noticeable that the size of the opposition and independent deputies inside Egyptian parliaments has evolved as demonstrated in the table below:

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

Seri

al

Parl

iam

ent

Opp

ositi

on

Inde

pend

ent

% o

f op

posi

tion

and

inde

pend

ent

depu

ties

% o

f ND

P de

putie

s

1 1976 36 3.1 48 7.13 24% 76%2 1979 33 6.8 14 6.3 2.1% 8.87%3 1984 65 2.14 - - 2.14% 9.84%4 1987 95 4.21 8 8.1 2.23% 8.76%5 1990 6 3.01 56 6.12 9.13% 1.86%6 1995 12 7.2 31 9.6 6.9% 4.90%7 2000 17 84.3 37 37.8 2.12% 8.87%8 2005 12 3.1 1.9 311

Conclusion:

Given the previous demonstration of the surrounding conditions and circumstances in which Egyptian elections -whether presidential or parliamentary – were held, it is possible to come out with the following observations:

1. Egyptian elections can be classified as classical elections, i.e. election results are known in advance and there is no doubt that this fact reflects the result of a group of conditions, which are persistent for long decades out of the state of political polarization created by a single political organization on the political scene. Furthermore, the ability to change the state of political polarization became so difficult due to the weakness of available competitors and lack of their political will.2. There is a state of obvious unconsciousness among Egyptians regarding necessary reform; despite that Egyptians yearn for reform but yet do not carry out what is required to achieve such reform. This is obvious in the low rate of voters’ participation in elections, low percentage of enrollment in political parties and organizations, weak role of civil society organizations and associations and the weak role played by the press and the media in raising political awareness.3. The debate on political reform necessitated some amendments that are related to the electoral process- whether presidential or

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪parliamentary- and necessitated also the amendment of certain existing laws such as the Law on the Peoples’ Assembly, the Elections Law and the Law on Political Rights.4. In the light of the pressures Egypt is subjected to – in some way or another- from outside such as the US in order to induce democratic reforms, it becomes necessary to respond positively to the new conditions and variables witnessed in the world of today and work hard on adopting a reform program that is genuine and that reflects a real and honest desire in reform that interacts with the needs and aspirations of the people.

Attached is the lecture given by Dr. Ahmed Fathy Sorrour, the Head of the Peoples’ Assembly on the legislative structure and means of its development to match development requirements in Egypt – Cairo in February 15th, 2001.

The Peoples’ Assembly (2005) : Between numbers and trends

The 2005 elections was a distinctive mark in the history of the Egyptian political life following the amendment of article 76 of the Egyptian Constitution, which made the process of selecting the president by means of direct election through a secret ballot rather than by means of a referendum to enable Egyptians for the first time in their modern history to select their next president from among ten candidates.

In addition to the above, the 2005 elections being the first and last experience of judicial supervision over the elections following the issuance of the ruling of the Constitutional court dated 8/7/2000 of the necessity of judicial supervision over subsidiary committees. As an application of the ruling, the President issued a presidential decree promulgating Law no. 167/2000 amending the Law on the exercise of Political rights and Peoples’ Assembly Law to have judges supervise subsidiary committees instead of the Ministry of Interior as it was the case previously.

The 2005 elections were distinctive in many ways since it marked the participation of civil society organization in monitoring elections in

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪addition to the noticeable liberty enjoyed by political parties including the Muslim Brotherhood in their election campaigns.

More importantly, the opposition managed to cross the 100 seats boundary out of the total number of seats amounting to 432 seats. The Muslim Brotherhood acquired 88 seats, while the National Democratic (NDP) acquired 141 seats according to its official list of nominees announced before 170 independent candidates joined the NDP prior to the announcement. Thus, the number of MPs belonging to the NDP becomes 311 MPs according to the head of the supreme elections committee. Such results may have been the reason for the increased percentage of public interest in the performance of MPs and the extend of their capability in expressing the real goals of political reform.

Such interest has later witnessed a decrease, which we tried to explain its reasons through designing a questionnaire in order to measure the opinions and trends of citizens towards the performance of deputies in the parliament. The questionnaire was also designed to reach a public answer regarding several controversial issues of concern regarding the relationship between MPs and the executive power. Recording identification data of the voter has been taken into account while designing the questionnaire such as the voter’s governorate, its geographical nature, age group, level of education and occupation. The second part of the questionnaire included a group of questions about MPs in the voter’s district, the voter’s evaluation for MPs performance in addition to the voter’s opinion about the role of MPs in the parliament. The third part of the questionnaire included questions about the opinion of the voter in several controversial matters of concern in society such as the difference between services MPs and legislative MPs, the nomination of ministers for the membership of the parliament, the commercial transaction between the government and MPs and the change of political affiliation among MPs following elections.The total number of sample questionnaires amounted to 500 questionnaires distributed as follows:

Governorate Cairo Giza Qaubiya Dakhliya Menya Excluded Total

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Number 112 58 132 57 118 23 500

Percentage 22.4% 11.6% 26.4% 11.4% 23.6% 4.6% 100 %

Analysis of Opinion Trends according to Sample Governorates

Firstly: Cairo “Sample”

Cairo represents the political and economic capital of the Egyptian state in addition to being the largest in terms of population density due to the centralization, which rendered the city as the headquarters for most of the ministries and governmental institutions. From the electora point of view, the project has divided Cairo into 25 districts, where each district is represented by two members; at least one of them is a worker or a peasant. The number of candidates was 529 distributed as follows:

Candidates White Collar Workers Peasants TotalNumber 294 227 8 529

Candidates Men WomenNumber 508 21

Candidates Muslims CoptsNumber 501 28

Can

dida

tes

acco

rdin

g to

po

litic

al p

artie

s

ND

P

Waf

d

Nas

serit

e

Kar

ama

Labo

ur

Taga

mu

Popu

ar

Cam

paig

nTa

gmu

Wat

ani

Gha

d (N

our)

Gha

d(M

ouss

a)

Libe

ras

Mus

lim

Bro

ther

hood

Inde

pend

ant

Tota

l

Number 50 13 3 2 2 4 2 1 2 3 2 14 431 529

Cairo was among the governorates included in the first round of elections, where the number of registered voters reached 2,786,066 voters, among which 394,156 voters actually placed their vote. The number of correct votes reached 373,670 votes while the number of

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪null votes reached 20,486 votes. The Basateen district scored the highest percentage of voting where the number of voters reached 33,249 voters out of 139,034 registered voters, if compared with Al-Sahl district where the number of voters reached 12,074 out of 140,865 registered voters. Final results revealed the winning of the NDP with 27 seats with a percentage of 54 % of its official list of nominees before 9 independent candidates joined the NDP so that the geographical distribution of Cairo MPs becomes as follows:

Party NDP Wafd Tagmu Ghad Muslim Brotherhood IndependentNumber 36 1 1 1 9 2

The rate of change reached 48 % of the total Cairo membership as the number of former MPs reached 26 MPs, while the number of new MPs reached 24 MPs divided into 23 White collar MPs and 27 Workers MPs.

Ser. District Members Affiliation

1. Al-Sahl Hazem M.F. Abd El HalekSayed A.R.Hassan

White CollarWorkers

2. Technical Institute Dr./Youssef R.Y.B.GhaliGharib S.I.Younis

White CollarWorkers

3. Road Al-Farag Abd El Rahman R. M.SayedTarek M.S.A.Sebaq

White CollarWorkers

4. Shubra Mohamed M.M.GoweilyReda A.M.Wahdan

White CollarWorkers

5. Al-Zawya Al-Hamra Ihab A. S.BadawyTarek Salah

White CollarWorkers

6. Nasr City Moustafa M.K.SallabMagdy M. S.Ashour

White CollarWorkers

7. Al-Nozha Mahmoud M.A.KhalilAbd El Fatah M. A.M.Mentawy

White CollarWorkers

8. Al-Matariah Dr./Zakaryia H.M.AzmiMoustafa M. M.Abd El Wehab

White CollarWorkers

9. Al-Zaitoun Mohamed Abd El Aziz ShabaanMohamed A.A.Hosni

White CollarWorkers

10. Hadayek A-Koba Dr. Shereen A. FoudAbd El Hameed S.A.Shalaan

White CollarWorkers

11. Al-Waily Dr./Hani M. F.M.Sorrour White Collar

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Ibrahim S.A.A.Sayed Workers

12. Al Thaher Yehia M.W.AzabMohamed A.A.Ibrahim

White CollarWorkers

13. Bab Al-Sheriayh Mohamed I.SolimanMohamed H.Boghdady

White CollarWorkers

14. Al-Gamaliyah Atef A.A.YoussefAlaa Eldin A.Sayed

White CollarWorkers

15. Al-Darb Al-Ahmar Gamal H.G.AliRagab H.B.Hemeida

White CollarWorkers

16. Abdeen Mohamed A.Y.NafawayBadr Eldin S.Kady

White CollarWorkers

17. Boulak Abou El-Ella Gamal H.G.AliRagab H.B.Hemieda

White CollarWorkers

18. Kasr El-Nil Abd El Aziz M.M.MoustafaHesham M.K.Kamel

White CollarWorkers

19. Al-Saida Zeinab Ahmed F.M.SorrourAdel H.Moustafa

White CollarWorkers

20. Al-Khalifa Abd El Moneim A. M. BekheetHassan T.I.Farahat

White CollarWorkers

21. Al-Manyal Fathy A.Abd El Hameed KhalilDr. Magdy Allam

White CollarWorkers

22. Old Cairo Abu Bakr O.M.Abd El AlYousri M.M.Bayoumi

White CollarWorkers

23. Al-Basateen Mohamed H.M.MorshedyHussein K.A.Megawer

White CollarWorkers

24. Helwan Al mouhmady M.A.GhanamDr./Sayed A.M.Meshal

White CollarWorkers

25. Al-Tebeen Mohamed M.B.MohamedAli S.Fateh El Bab

White CollarWorkers

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪Trend Analysis of the Cairo Sample

The sample represented about 22.4 % of the total target category distributed according to the age group as follows:

Age Group Number %Less than 30 28 25

Between 30-40 41 36.6Between 40-50 20 17.8Between 50-60 15 13.4More than 60 8 7.2

As for the gender, the number of males reached 78 amounting to 69.6 % while the number of females reached 34 amounting to 30.4 %. The indicator was more oriented towards holders of university degrees and that is due to the urban nature of the governorate. The samples was distributed according to the educational level as follows:

Educational Level Number %Literate 2 1.8

Primary School 7 6.3Average Qualification 34 30.3

University Degrees 51 45.5Graduate Studies 18 16.1

The sample was distributed according to occupation as follows:

Occupation Number %Public sector 18 16.1

Private sector 19 17Private business 19 17

Pensioner 9 8Student 25 22.3

Unemployed 22 19.6

As for the awareness of citizens of the names of the deputies representing their districts in the Peoples’ Assembly, it was very

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪obvious that there is a wide gap between citizens and their deputies, since only 13 individuals managed to identify their deputies as opposed to 25 individuals who failed to do so.

Awareness of Deputy Number %No answer 25 22.3

One Deputy 54 48.2Two Deputies 13 11.7

Incorrect names 20 17.8

Lack of awareness was not only limited to deputies in the parliament but also extended to their capacities as only 34.8 % of the sample managed to identify the capacitates of their deputies in the parliament while 65.2 % failed to do so.

As for evaluating the performance of MPs, 47 individuals amounting to 42 % saw that their deputies are doing a good job while 65 individuas amounting to 58 % saw that their deputies are not performing well as MPs, explaining a variety of reasons such as:

Lack of services reaching voters (23%) Limited services (19 %) Services are not in favor of the district (58%)

Regarding the role which an MP is supposed to undertake, the answers were as follows:

Building schools, universities and hospitals Combating corruption Defending the rights of citizens Eradicating unemployment Building new cities Helping the needy Solving society most difficult problems Solving the bread crisis Working on voicing the problems of the district to the Assembly

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪As for the role which the Peoples’ Assembly is supposed to undertake, the answers were as follows:

Solving the bread crisis Solving the problems of citizens as they are key problems Working on democratizing the Assembly Dealing with society’s negatives Issuing laws in favor of the people Developing the skills of youth Putting an end to price increases Defending the rights of poor and weak citizens Paying attention to civil rights of citizens Encouraging the younger generation to participate in the

parliament Protecting transparency and democracy Issuing laws and discussing the problems of the district Serving the nation and the legislative role of laws

As for the concept of “the Assembly is the sole source of its decisions”, the opinion trends in the sample were as follows:

Stance Agree Disagree NeutralNumber 37 66 9

% 33 59 8

Those who agreed explained that the constitution emphasized the concept of separation of powers and that is a guarantee in itself for the non-interference in the internal affairs of the Assembly or influencing its decisions. However those who disagreed explained that the concept is always used to defend the MPs of the ruling party in order to maintain their membership in the parliament despite judicial verdicts of the voidness of such memberships. Thus, the concept is regarded as a means of factionalizing the opposition MPs.

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₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪ Assembly of Dissidents ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪As for the issue of changing political affiliation following the elections, opinions came as follows:

Stance Agree Disagree NeutralNumber 29 80 3

% 25.9 71.4 2.7

As for the issue of withdrawing confidence from MPs in case of not performing their parliamentary roles in serving voters, opinions came as follows:

Stance Agree Disagree NeutralNumber 95 15 2

% 84.8 13.4 1.8

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