ELECT THIS!

Egypt is a country in which legitimate elections and unicorns share a similar plane of reality. That said I suppose it is not surprising that the Student Union (SU) elections are such a big deal at AUC. I heard stories last semester about how worked up people had gotten over the elections the year before. People got harassed in the halls, campaigners paid people to vote for their candidate, rumors were spread, reputations were ruined. I got the impression that this sort of thing had a history going back about as far as the SU. I also assumed, by how much I heard people talking about these voting issues, that it was something the school was becoming more aware of and concerned about. I assumed that the school would be cracking down on this sort of activity this year, and that a peaceful, respectable, boring election would ensue.

I once had a math teacher who used to say, “Assume makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’” Clearly I was paying too much attention to the math and not enough to the real lesson.

Before I talk about the election itself I feel I should introduce the five candidates for SU president.

Ahmed Abou Hussein: Current Chair of development and planning (SU), best SU member 06. When asked, “Why should people vote for you?” he replied, “Because I hope they believe in me as I believe in them.”

Ahmed Seddiq: President of the Egyptology Society, Math Society, and English Literature Society. When asked, “What’s the first decision you would make as president?” he replied, “Make every student, by default, a union member, people will not be excluded on account of interviews or qualifications.”

Hisham El Hifnawy: He was once a member of the sales committee in ‘The Challenge.’ When asked, “Why are you running?” he replied, “In opposition to the SU elections and how they are run. I wans [sic] to represent people who dont [sic] vote and hate the system and get harrassed [sic] by campaigners during the elections.”

Hussein Mohamed Abou El Soud: Current SU Treasurer. When asked, “Why are you running?” he replied Through my four-year experience in the SU, I realized what the people working in the SU need and what people outside it need from the SU and what the SU can really do. My vision and plan come from me and from a group of people who support and believe in me and the vision.”

Mohamed Yussr: First Year Experience organizing committee head, charity club vice president in Hand to Hand, best SU member 05-06. When asked what his greatest quality was he said, “Patience.” When asked about his greatest flaw he replied, “Being too kind.”

Opinions about the SU generally fall into two camps. There are those who believe that the SU is complete reorganization of the phrase “buts hill.” And, there are those who believe that the SU president comes somewhere just under The Prophet and just above the President of the United States of America, and that SU members are the planets true “chosen people.” I am a bit of a nomad, but I will let you guess who’s camp I generally sleep closer to.

Elections started on Sunday (the first day of the week here). I only had one class and it was on Greek Campus and I went home right after it. As a result I completely missed the passion of Voting Day #1, which was taking place on Main Campus. As some sort of security measure the powers that be (stupid) decided to move voting to a different area on campus each day. About an hour after arriving home, Jason burst into the apartment raving about the wildness that was going on. The support groups of the three main candidates (Ahmed Hussein, Hussein El Soud, Mohamed Yussr) have group colors. If you happened to be wearing one of these colors you would probably get harassed by members of the other groups. If you weren’t wearing one of these colors you would probably… get harassed by members of every group. The path between the tennis court and the basketball court on Main Campus was a mosh pit of campaigners and non combatants. As Jason tried to walk through the area he was ambushed by our friend Sara (campaigning for Ahmed Hussein) who then passed him off to another girl who proceeded to tell him everything he needed to know about their candidate. After voting Jason was hit by a second mob of people trying to find out who he had voted for. Finally, with all his appendages and most of his sanity still attached, Jason made it out the gate and into the street, where he could breathe a sigh of relief in the calm sanctuary of down town Cairo.

The second day of voting took place on Greek campus so I caught the tail end of the excitement on my way to my last class. Unfortunately, the passion had subsided slightly, and I was only harassed by one campaigner who ran alongside me nagging, “Can I have just a minute of your time to—” I looked him straight in the area directly in front of me and, with succinct honesty, said, “No.” He paused, taken aback, and I was gone. I was slightly disappointed that he didn’t put up more of a fight. More unfortunate still, just as Sam and I were getting ready to vote, it closed down for the afternoon. That night, while doing our homework, I talked with Sam about how satisfying it would feel to punch a campaigner in the face, and start a huge brawl, or simply how cool it would be if a brawl got started.

On the third day of voting I awoke bright and early, excited to do my civic duty as an upright AUCian. I would finish class at 2:00 and go over to New Falaki to vote. I got to school, and it was a matter of minutes before I heard the news. A fight had broken out. Some campaigners had lost it. A kid had been knocked out. The election had been shut down. And I… had missed it.

Right now it is unclear what will happen with the elections. Today this letter was released:

To the AUC Community:

A decision was reached today to suspend voting for the president of the Student Union. The university made the decision following a series of complaints by students concerning aggressive behavior toward voters by supporters of the various candidates. The decision to suspend the voting was based on the recommendation of a university committee representing the faculty and students.

The university is now conducting an investigation of a series of incidents that took place on Tuesday, May 8. Voting will resume when the investigation is completed. The university is prepared to take disciplinary action against anyone who is found guilty of disrupting or interfering with another student’s right to vote.

Following the investigation and before next year’s elections, the university will also design policies and procedures for all future elections to ensure that each student is allowed to vote without interference or disruption.

If any member of the AUC community has complaints or concerns about the voting process at the university, please contact me directly.

Ashraf El Fiqi

Vice President of Student Affairs