Student community outraged after Egyptian Student Union dissolved

Representatives of recently elected student unions in public universities were outraged following a decision by the Ministry of Higher Education to nullify the results of the Egyptian Student Union (ESU) elections late Thursday.

Two weeks after the election of the country’s biggest official student body, the ministry accepted an appeal against the results of the elections, which had reportedly produced a largely anti-government ESU.

The voting saw the election of Cairo University's student union president Abdallah Anwar and Tanta University student union president Amr al-Helw as ESU’s president and vice president respectively. Both Anwar and Helw accused the ministry of intervening in the electoral process for the sake of the largely pro-state coalition Voice of Egypt's Students. When the allegedly state-backed coalition failed to win the elections, the ministry decided to nullify the results, they claimed.

The ministry declared that election results were nullified because of a procedural error in the election of the vice president of Zagazig University, who voted in the ESU elections. The committee tasked with organizing the electoral process said the vote of the student in question was rejected, affecting the final results of the elections. A rerun of ESU president and vice president elections, as well as Zagazig University student union vice president elections, shall be conducted at a later stage.

In response to the ministry’s decision, a group of student movements released a statement condemning the nullification of election results, asking for support from the larger student community. The student movements also demanded the resignation of Higher Education Minister Ashraf al-Shehy.

“For Shehy and his ministry advisers to continue would means the continuation of corruption and the continuation of those who fabricated the will of the students, which we will never allow,” the statement said. The signatories included the April 6 Youth Movement, the Revolutionary Socialists, and other movements representing the Dostour, Strong Egypt, Egyptian Social Democratic and Bread and Freedom parties.

Ministry officials were not available for comment regarding these accusations.

Anwar told privately owned Al-Mehwar channel on Thursday that there are many unanswered questions concerning the ministry’s decision.

He explained that Ahmed Ateya was elected after former vice president of the Zagazig student union, Mohamed al-Sobky, resigned for personal reasons. Anwar said that Ateya’s name was not listed in the ministry’s records during the time of the ESU elections. “On election day, voting was supposed to end at 12 pm and Ateya did not participate. We asked the committee to end the voting process, but the committee said it will extend voting time until 2 pm. By this time, Ateya managed to attend with a document signed by his university proving that he was the newly elected vice president. It took the committee one hour to decide on the eligibility of Ateya's vote, after which it allowed him to vote,” Anwar said.

“So the committee waited for Ateya and insisted that he should vote, then examined his document and decided that his election is legal and allowed him to vote. Now the committee says his election is illegal. What can we call that?” Anwar asked.

Anwar believes that as the end of semester exams approach, the elections will be conducted again next semester, which wastes time needed for the ESU to serve the student community properly. “This is not just a waste of time, this is clear embezzlement of public funds,” Anwar added.

Helw agreed, explaining to Mada Masr that the decision is an indication that government does not want a student body that is really reflective of the student community. "They want a union that they can control and direct. The ministry says a procedural mistake behind its decision, but it is the ministry that approved it," he said.  

Helw added that a number of universities have declared that they are organizing marches in support of the dissolved ESU.

"We will make use of all the legitimate channels we have, including filing a lawsuit at the Administrative Court. We also have a huge network of student unions across the country that we will consult before making any other decisions," he explained.