5 questions for a parliamentary candidate: Fatima Naoot

Fatima Naoot, an Egyptian poet and journalist known for her controversial opinions, will be running in the parliamentary elections as an independent candidate for a Heliopolis seat. Naoot is a regular columnist at the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm. She has 19 published books, including translations, poems and literary criticism.

Why are you interested in running in the elections?

I do not consider this as the actual and main parliament, but I’m taking part in these elections to stop the Salafi parties from rewriting the Constitution.

The parliament that will follow the next one will be the real one that we have been waiting for, after the Constitution has been reshaped — and hopefully it will be free from religious parties.

Also, religious parties are aiming to destroy Egypt for their own interests. The presence of religious parties in parliament will lead to the destruction of Egypt, because they mostly care about their own interests and dividing the country.

What would your priorities be if you were to win a seat in parliament?

Naoot declined to answer the question before she has publicly announced her priorities.

Who is supporting your candidacy?

Naoot declined to answer the question before she has publicly announced which parties are supporting her.

Do you feel there is the political context for your success in a free and fair election?

The political scene will be fair and free once the religious parties are out of it. They have already started to [distribute] rice and oil in their campaigns to convince people to vote for them.

They are trying to distort the freedom and fairness of the elections, and they are trying to destroy what has been achieved since the June 30 uprising and should be stopped.

How competitive do you think this election will be?

The elections are very competitive, especially since religious parties have already started promoting the idea of “elect us and you’ll enter heaven,” which is not true, ridiculous and very provocative.