Student Senate Passes Genderless Campaigning Code, But is it Needed?

By: Mariam Zakzouk

@itsjustzigzig

The Student Senate on April 8 passed a legislation which banned election campaigning on the basis of religion, nationality, culture, gender, or personal background.

This came days before the ballots open online on April 15.

Student Union (SU) Presidential Election campaigns have been going strong for a week, with candidates presenting their platforms online and debating via Facebook Live and Zoom.

However, this new electoral code of conduct (titled Code 20-21) has sparked controversy among some student political groups, which have been divided into camps, each with their own agenda.

SU elections have historically been contested by candidates from two of the more powerful political camps, the black and the red.

There are concerns voiced by some students that the new legislation was in part motivated by the rivalry between the black and red camps.

This is in contrast to last year’s SU presidential election, which was contested by color-neutral candidates.

One of those is Salma Ehab, who is the current SU vice-president. She sees no need for the new legislation, which she finds rather vague.

“I feel like my gender plays a big role in my experience as a student for good and bad reasons. Eliminating this factor takes away from my experience and therefore my ability to contribute to creating an atmosphere that doesn’t distinguish between genders,” Ehab told The Caravan.

“Doing things online is very challenging, for everyone, especially for people who had to rewrite the electoral code. It transforms the experience,” Ehab added.

In the 2018-2019 SU elections former President Saeed Zakaria was part of the red camp, his Vice-President Menna Emara was not part of any political camp.

Their opponents who lost that year, Mohamed Tharwat and Youssef Elwi, represented the Black Camp.

In the 2019-2020 elections, members of both camps told The Caravan they weren’t interested in seeking the top representative positions. That seems to have changed this year.

Two of the candidates, Ahmed Saeed and Youssef Gomaa, have said they are affiliated with the red camp.

An ex-presidential candidate, who spoke to The Caravan on the condition of anonymity for fear of sparking tensions between the camps, suspects that the red camp used their majority in the Student Senate to pass the legislation as a means of weakening the competition.

The competition, AbdelMoneim Mansour and Sara Essam, say they’re not affiliated with any camp and are running for president and vice-president, respectively.

“The [red camp] passed a clause in the electoral code banning candidates from ‘campaigning using their gender’ because they feel threatened by her existence as a woman,” the source said.

The red camp does not allow women to play a leadership role, the former presidential candidate said, which explains why they may not have done well at the polls.

“This is a huge step back; I’m appalled by the current state of things and find this to be blatant misogyny to say the least,” the source added..

However, red camp representative A.A vehemently denied that they were orchestrating such an upset and stressed that they do not have the power in the Student Senate to single-handedly pass such legislation.

He stated that the Senate is composed of a diverse group of students, who are all part of a variety of majors and camps.

A.A denied any hidden red camp  agendas in the Code 20-21 legislation.

However, A.A. said: “Personally, I find campaigning with gender and not [candidate] qualifications to be irrelevant to the presidential elections. The same as with religion, background, or other personal characteristics.”

Student Senate Member Ismael Elsharkawy believes Code 20-21 will level the playing field.

“Candidates of all genders have the same opportunity to run for office,” Elsharkawy said.

“I think that it can be a guarantee that there will be no discrimination [against] political candidates based on their gender.”