Update: Engineers vote no confidence against MB-led syndicate board

The Engineers Syndicate held an emergency general assembly meeting on Friday to poll its members for a vote of no confidence against the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated board. The results came in by Friday evening, and showed that 56 percent of the engineers voted against the board.

The polling began on Friday afternoon and drew a huge turnout, with a particularly strong presence from the Independence Current — a syndicate coalition that opposes Brotherhood control.

Gihan Attalah, a member of the coalition, told Mada Masr that as of late Friday afternoon engineers were still arriving at the meeting to participate in the poll — a significant sign of support for the current’s call for a no confidence vote against board, she said.

Brotherhood members were also present, carrying signs bearing the four-finger salute representing the violent deaths of hundreds of Brotherhood supporters at Rabea al-Adaweya in August and chanting against military rule, Attalah added.

Members of a parallel syndicate board accuse official board members of working for the interests of the banned Islamist organization and not for the interests of the engineers.

They accused the board members of using the syndicate’s headquarters, its nationwide branches and its financial resources for the Brotherhood.

Maged Khelousy, the head of the syndicate, had originally rejected a request filed by 176 syndicate members to hold the emergency meeting. According to the law, if the syndicate head declines to hold such a meeting for 30 days, complaints should then be referred to the syndicate's general coordinator — in this case, Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Motaleb.

Motaleb agreed to hold the general meeting. Other Brotherhood members in the board appealed the decision in front of the Administrative Court, but their appeal was rejected.

Syndicate member and deputy Sports Minister Bassel Adel reported that Brotherhood members have been mobilizing their members and bussing them in to the capital to cast their ballots against the no-confidence motion.