Party payments squeeze out Egypt's youth candidates
Political parties are demanding payments of up to $28,000 for candidates to be included in their electoral lists.
CAIRO — Egypt’s youth, particularly the revolutionary youth, are unable to independently finance their campaigns in the parliamentary elections scheduled by the end of this year. Many were shocked to find out that political parties in alliances led by Amr Moussa have linked inclusion in their lists to a payment of up to 200,000 Egyptian pounds (about $28,000) to limit the conflict between the electoral lists of the new Egyptian parliament and those of businessmen and capitalists, many of whom were associated with the Hosni Mubarak regime.
A number of revolutionary youth have decided against running in the parliamentary elections in the absence of a sponsor for their campaigns.
A number of them count on some Egyptian parties to include them, said Mohammed Attia, a member of the Coalition of Revolutionary Forces’ political bureau, in a phone interview with Al-Monitor. The majority of seats in the parties’ electoral lists will go to wealthy youth who have not worked in politics before, while the January and June revolutionary youth will miss out on this opportunity.
“I gave up the idea of running in the elections after the Conference Party, with which I am affiliated, imposed the payment of 200,000 pounds to include me on its list," Attia said. "There are many others who did not find any partisan support, given that they do not have financial capabilities and the money to manage the electoral campaigns independently. So we gave up the idea of running in the [parliamentary] elections, and we are counting on the upcoming local elections, hoping to find another opportunity to continue with political action.”
