Post-revolution syndicate elections in Egypt have produced the same old faces from the disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP) or the Muslim Brotherhood.
These results show that criteria for the political game at the grassroots have not changed since the 25 January revolution, which ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.
Ashraf al-Sherif, professor of political science at The American University in Cairo, however, said these results were in a way predictable.
"It is difficult for change to take place so quickly after the revolution," Sherif says. "There are still several complicated networks of interests in all syndicates and trade unions."
In the Cinema Syndicate elections held on 10 July, Television Director Mossad Fouda, a former NDP member, won the presidency of the syndicate for the second consecutive time. In this year's elections and in the March 2010 race, his competitor was the illustrious movie director Aly Badrakhan.
Ten days after Fouda's victory, seven of its 12 members submitted their resignations. This move necessitated the dissolution and reelection of the entire council. However, Fouda will remain in his position as syndicate chief.
Fouda always describes himself as the candidate who represents the poor and provides services to his consituents.
The council members who resigned said they reject Fouda as an icon of the former regime who made statements against the revolution. Furthermore, Fouda is a television director who has never worked in cinema.
Director Mohamed Fadel, one of Fouda's opponents, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the revolution has not yet achieved its goals because people with interests and power are still using old techniques, such as vote-buying, to get the support of voters.
Fadel added that Fouda transported voters from Egypt's governorates at his own expense all the way to Cairo to vote for him, a technique that had been used by NDP members in the past.
In the same month, the Muslim Brotherhood scooped up 22 of the Pharmacists Syndicate council's 25 seats. Brotherhood leader Mohamed Abdel Gawwad won the presidency of the syndicate.
The Pharmacists Syndicate was previously sequestered under a law that was revoked in January. It has not conducted any elections for 16 years, when the Brotherhood won its elections at the expense of pro-NDP members.
The Brotherhood's influence inside the syndicate remains untouched by the emergence of other waves and coalitions that call for change, such as the Independence Wave and the Coalition of Pharmacists for Change.
The Lawyers Syndicate elections will be held in September after an Egyptian court in July ordered the dissolution of its council and the formation of a judicial committee to run the syndicate for 60 days until the general assembly elects a new council.
All those who announced their intent to compete over the position of syndicate chief are old Islamist members, such as Montasser al-Zayyat, a lawyer for Islamist groups, Mohamed Tosson, a Brotherhood leader, and Mokhtar Noah, a former member of the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood front has also refused to challenge the court order that dissolved the syndicate council, avoiding a possible postponement of elections in which it looks forward to considerable gains.
Sherif wishes syndicate and trade union elections were similar to those of student union elections conducted in March, in which the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition and other independent political powers obtained 82 percent of the vote. In comparison, only 18 percent of the votes went to the Brotherhood and other traditional political forces.
Sherif also expressed fears that the upcoming parliamentary elections, slated for November, will usher in members from the NDP or Brotherhood.
Recently, 19 independent syndicates have been formed. These syndicates – disconnected from the state – include the Fishermen Syndicate, the Industrial Projects Workers Syndicate and the Electricity Workers Syndicate.
The Ministry of Manpower's legal committee in June prepared a draft law that allows the establishment of independent labor syndicates.
Kamal Abu Eita, the head of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions, said independent syndicates are the perfect solution to addressing the corruption permeating general ones. He added that they will provide an alternative platform for workers to voice their demands and obtain their rights.
Abu Eita added that if general syndicates had been effective, then Egyptian workers would have enjoyed their rights and there would have been no revolution. He also said that the revolution will not achieve its goals until all the bases of the former regime have been removed from the ground.
