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Hossam Badrawi to Al-Hurriya: The ruling that voids the electoral districts corrects the moment, but it does not address the core of the election crisis

Dr. Hossam Badrawi, the political thinker, said that the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling invalidating 28 districts is a respectable and decisive judgment, but the ongoing debate surrounding these elections deals with the symptoms, not the root of the problem, and does not fulfill the goals and philosophy of the Constitution. He added: “The ruling corrects the situation at the moment, but it does not solve the original issue.”

Badrawi added, in exclusive statements to Al-Hurriya, that the near-absolute involvement of the executive authority in choosing members of parliament, and in the process itself, is the main reason for society’s lack of trust. He noted that the current system of a single, absolute closed-list with no competition resembles a disguised appointment process.

He continued: “As for what is being circulated about large sums of money being paid to secure places for certain candidates on these lists, this has neither been confirmed nor denied by the responsible authorities. Is it true or not? And if it is, where did these millions come from and where do they go?”

The political thinker added: “Doubts still remain regarding the eligibility of some candidates in the individual seats, in addition to the large size of the current electoral districts, which fails to ensure a balanced geographic distribution and prevents citizens from having a direct connection with their representatives.”

He explained: “Taking into consideration the violations recorded in the first and second stages of the elections, and then the recent ruling to repeat the elections, this leaves society in a state of confusion, anxiety, and mistrust.”

Badrawi concluded: “The solution lies in reconsidering the overall political climate and amending the electoral laws in a way that provides fair and balanced representation, and opens the door to genuine political opposition, so that the two chambers of parliament truly reflect two distinct roles. And all of this will remain incomplete without local elections, in implementation of the decentralization principles established by the Constitution but never carried out.”

Dr. Hossam Badrawi

He is a politician, intellect, and prominent physician. He is the former head of the Gynecology Department, Faculty of Medicine Cairo University. He conducted his post graduate studies from 1979 till 1981 in the United States. He was elected as a member of the Egyptian Parliament and chairman of the Education and Scientific Research Committee in the Parliament from 2000 till 2005. As a politician, Dr. Hossam Badrawi was known for his independent stances. His integrity won the consensus of all people from various political trends. During the era of former president Hosni Mubarak he was called The Rationalist in the National Democratic Party NDP because his political calls and demands were consistent to a great extent with calls for political and democratic reform in Egypt. He was against extending the state of emergency and objected to the National Democratic Party's unilateral constitutional amendments during the January 25, 2011 revolution. He played a very important political role when he defended, from the very first beginning of the revolution, the demonstrators' right to call for their demands. He called on the government to listen and respond to their demands. Consequently and due to Dr. Badrawi's popularity, Mubarak appointed him as the NDP Secretary General thus replacing the members of the Bureau of the Commission. During that time, Dr. Badrawi expressed his political opinion to Mubarak that he had to step down. He had to resign from the party after 5 days of his appointment on February 10 when he declared his political disagreement with the political leadership in dealing with the demonstrators who called for handing the power to the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, from the very first moment his stance was clear by rejecting a religion-based state which he considered as aiming to limit the Egyptians down to one trend. He considered deposed president Mohamed Morsi's decision to bring back the People's Assembly as a reinforcement of the US-supported dictatorship. He was among the first to denounce the incursion of Morsi's authority over the judicial authority, condemning the Brotherhood militias' blockade of the Supreme Constitutional Court. Dr. Hossam supported the Tamarod movement in its beginning and he declared that toppling the Brotherhood was a must and a pressing risk that had to be taken few months prior to the June 30 revolution and confirmed that the army would support the legitimacy given by the people

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