Diaa Rashwan reelected to Journalists Syndicate amid accusations of rigged vote

The incumbent head of Journalist Syndicate Diaa Raswhan was reelected on Friday for a second term in an election that a rival candidate told Mada Masr was engineered to ensure Rashwan's victory.

Rashwan received 59 percent of the vote, competing against six other candidates for the seat with less than 50 percent voter turnout. Fifty-five candidates in total were competing for six of the syndicate board’s 12 seats. 

The rival candidate told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that pro-state journalists had been mobilized to act in the interest of pro-state candidates, and that candidates were not allowed to attend the vote count.

Senior board seats ultimately went to Senator and Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Abu Kila of Al-Raai newspaper, which belongs to the government-owned Dar Al-Tahrir Foundation, Mohamed Kharaga of the state-owned Akhbar Al-Youm Foundation and Hussein al-Zenaty of the state-owned Al-Ahram Foundation, while the junior seats went to Ayman Abdel Magid of the state-owned Rose Al-Youssef Foundation, the Tahrir Foundation’s Doaa al-Naggar, and Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez of the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Mahmoud Kamel, a member of the syndicate council committee overseeing the elections, told Mada Masr that several journalists made verbal complaints that management at the press outlets they work for had pressured them to vote for a specific list of candidates according to what was presumed, based on past experience, to be instructions from National Security Agency officers.

Kamel declined to comment on the names since he had not received formal complaints that would authorize further investigation into matter, adding that journalists refrain from submitting official complaints for fear of being targeted.

The rival candidate explained that the list included those who actually won on Friday, in addition to Yasser Selim, one of the candidates for a junior board seat.

In the months before the elections, another candidate for chair of the syndicate, Karem Yehia, lodged an appeal calling to exclude Rashwan from running for the position in the midterm elections on the grounds that his position as chair of the State Information Service compromises his ability to act without bias as syndicate head and preserve the syndicate’s independence. The appeal was later rejected by the administrative courts.

Securing financial benefits for journalists has been a hallmark of Rashwan’s platform as syndicate head. Rashwan is not new to lobbying for support having previously held the position at the head of the syndicate from 2013–2015.

During his 2019 election campaign, Rashwan managed to gain leverage by reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbuly to disburse nine months’ worth of delayed dividend payments immediately to employees at Al-Ahram, while a remaining three months of payments were distributed at the start of the new fiscal year in July 2019. The move delivered a major blow to rival candidate Abdel Mohsen Salama, who was the incumbent and president of Al-Ahram Foundation’s board of directors.

Rashwan made similar promises this election cycle.

In the month before the elections, Rashwan pushed for a series of benefits for journalists, including a 20 percent increase in pensions for retired journalists, training and technology allowances and guaranteed unemployment benefits. The prime minister announced his approval of the measures just over a week before the vote. 

However, the syndicate’s finances under Rashwan’s leadership hit a snag ahead of the leadership elections on Friday.  

Before voting on board positions, the general assembly gathered to vote on items that included closing out the accounts for the past year and approving the upcoming year's budget. The budget for the coming year was rejected and referred back to the council for reconsideration after questions were raised regarding the legitimacy of several projects to which funding was allocated, a source from the professional association told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, adding that these included "items that are not in the interests of journalists.”

In early March, the syndicate decided to postpone its midterm elections from mid-March to April 2 and to hold the elections in an open-air venue — the Teachers Syndicate and club in Cairo’s Gezira district — in order to comply with recommendations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The government rejected an earlier proposal for the elections to be held in tents erected outside the syndicate's headquarters in downtown Cairo.

The syndicate holds a midterm vote every two years for a new head and half of the board’s 12 members. There are 8,861 eligible voting members.