As the date of the Lawyers Syndicate election approaches, the struggle for the chair and member seats of the body's ruling council has been heating up, with the competition particularly fierce between Muslim Brotherhood members and the syndicate's younger lawyers.
The election, which is scheduled for mid-October, will decide the composition of the new governing council for the syndicate, which is currently being run by an interim committee. The previous council, which included leaders from the National Democratic Party (NDP) and was headed by Hamdy Khalifa, was dissolved in July after a court ruled that its 2009 election had been rigged.
Observers believe that the dissolved council was a tool of the former Mubarak regime used to control the Lawyers Syndicate, widely considered one of Egypt's most effective professional organizations.
The former governing council also included a number of leading Brotherhood figures, a kind of a compromise between the group and the Mubarak regime to divide power within the syndicate.
At least 26 candidates are running for chairman in the upcoming elections, with 399 others competing for council member seats. The candidates can be divided into three main blocs.
The first of these blocs is the National List, consisting mostly of members of the Brotherhood and other political parties, most notably the Wafd Party.
The second bloc is called the Independent Lawyers List, consisting of young syndicate members who have become more vocal following the January uprising. The bloc aims to maintain the Lawyers Syndicate's independence from other political movements or parties.
The third bloc is headed by Sameh Ashour, chairman of the Nasserist Party and a candidate for chairmanship. Ashour was elected as chair in 2001 and 2005.
According to the syndicate's internal rules, the governing council should consist of a chairman and 24 other members. The deadline for nominations was last Thursday, 8 September, meaning that going forward, there should be no modifications to the list of candidates aside from withdrawals.
In a microcosm of the current Egyptian political scene, the Lawyers Syndicate is for the first time witnessing strong internal competition between Islamists, like Montasser al-Zayyat, a lawyer representing various Islamist groups, such as Jama'a al-Islamiya, and Mukhtar Nouh, a former Brotherhood member.
The Muslim Brotherhood has announced it will not nominate any of its members for the chairmanship, and will only compete for membership seats on the council. This decision mirrors the group's usual political tactics, whereby it depends on a large number of members to dominate an organization without contending its leadership. In the 2001 elections, the Brotherhood won a sweeping majority, taking 22 of the 24 seats.
"The syndicate has become an arena for the political and party struggles that have been taking place in Egypt since the revolution," said Ahmed Fawzy, a member and activist at the syndicate. He added all current candidates have only political motives, forgetting that their main role lies in working to improve lawyers' skills and qualifications.
The syndicate election this year may have a strong impact on the writing of Egypt's new constitution, explaining why so much energy is being poured into the upcoming syndicate election.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is set to choose a 100-member constituent assembly after the upcoming parliamentary elections that will write the new constitution. While the assembly is expected to be mostly comprised of elected members of parliament, it will likely also include representatives from among other communities, including religious institutions, political parties, unions and syndicates.
Control of the syndicates, therefore, provides the Brotherhood a chance to have a stronger voice in writing the nation's next constitution.
"The Brotherhood wants to mobilize the largest number of seats this session in order to be present in the 100-member assembly, which will develop a new constitution and is expected to attract union cadres, so as to represent all the forces of the community," Fawzy said.
Although the Brotherhood has not yet declared which candidate it will support for the chairmanship, some press reports suggest the group will opt for Zayyat, who has Islamist leanings, or Vice President of the Wafd Party Mohamed Kamel, whose party has formed a coalition with the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party ahead of the parliamentary elections. The two parties have joined under the newly created Democratic Coalition for Egypt, and will contest the parliamentary elections on joint lists.
Zayyat told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he has not received any information on whether the Brotherhood would support him, noting that he is an independent candidate. He refused to categorize candidates into Islamists and non-Islamists, saying he hopes voters will make their choices based on each candidate's efficiency.
Ashour and his bloc, which is comprised of ten lawyers he has described as active members of the syndicate, does not appear to have any desire to form an alliance with any parties or political movements.
Haitham Omar Hafez, a candidate on the Independent Lawyers List, told the Youm7 newspaper that his bloc has the ability to compete with the Brotherhood and its political allies.
Zayyat, though, said that he believed the young bloc does not have enough organizational skills yet to succeed in the election.
Remnants of the dissolved NDP also appear to be alive and kicking, with some deciding to run for council member seats as independents.
Two former NDP members who have decided to run for the chairmanship stand out: controversial lawyer Mortada Mansour, who stands accused of organizing attacks on pro-democracy protesters during the revolution in an incident dubbed the "Battle of the Camel," and Talaat al-Sadat, a former member of parliament and the most recent NDP chairman.
Fawzy ruled out the possibility that either of them will win, as they are merely depending on their reputations as successful lawyers. He added that some other former NDP members may win, though, because of the close relationships that still exist between syndicate members even after the revolution.
