No Voters Needed for Sadat's 98%

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REFERENDUM:

A clear example of the anti-democratic nature of the referendum was to be seen in Egypt over the last week.

The use of the referendum as a means of imposing dictatorial rule was invented by the first Bonaparte after the French Revolution.:• Its use by later Bonapartist regimes which balance between the revolutionary aspirations of the masses and the imposition of class rule has been seen many times since then.

The referendum held Egypt on 21 May was exception to this.

"Spread defeatism"

It called on voters to say 'yes' to a series of propositions, each more reactionary than the last.

The six "democratic principles' on the ballot paper included. allowing the government to take action against those who published 'unfounded rumours' or 'spread defeatism' Another of the 'democratic principles' was directed against all those who were convicted of taking part in propaganda in opposition to or critical of religious principles'.

Such people according to the ballot paper:

•.. could not occupy higher administrative positions in the State or the public sector, could not stand as candidates for administrative bodies or trade unions, could not work in any form of mass media whatever or take part in any work which might influence public opinion"

Within 24 hours the Minister of the Interior had announced a vote of 98.29% of the electorate in favour of this, with a more than 80% poll.

This was despite the fact that the Financial Times correspondent noted that:

"For long periods of the day the Cairo voting booths were almost deserted"

The Le Monde man said that:

"Several foreign journalists had to go to some lengths to see any citizens at all performing their electoral duty"

The purpose of the referendum, whatever the real result, was not to discover the 'democratic opinions' of the Egyptian people.

Nor did it aim simply to silence critics of the type of Muhammad Heikal, former confidante of Nasser and editor of Al Ahram.

He advocated more open government in an interview published in the London Times on 22 May. His objective is to allow the capitalist regime more effectively to defend itself.

Reassert authority

Nor did it need the referendum to ban. other more radical forces such as the newspaper Al Ahali (The People) when it published in Egypt an interview with (left Heikal.

Sadat had a number of different • purposes in running the referendum.

The first was to reassert the authority of his Bonapartist regime, fundamentally unstable and threatened at the centre as a result of the failure of its policies.

Papers close to Sadat himself like the magazine October have been talking recently of the need for the army to 'defend the constitution' and stay well away from 'the game of politics'.

The policy of raprochement with the Zionists having completely failed, the Sadat regime is now revolutionary socialism desperately looking for a base for further lurches in. policy, and this is clearly the aim of the referendum.

The great fear of those who rule Egypt today is of a new outburst of popular feeling of the sort which brought workers onto the streets of Cairo and Alexandra in January 1977, shouting 'Hero of the crossing, where is our breakfast?' IMF delegation The most important purpose of the 'saving of democracy' and the purges from public offices announced by Sadat at a press conference on 23 May was made clearer a day or two later when news began to be published of the activities of an International Monetary Fund delegation currently visiting Cairo.

Although Egypt's balance of paynients deficit has been slightly eased in recent months, Economics Minister Hamid El Sayeh is currently trying to negotiate $750 million special drawing rights from the IMF. Cuban come nstuc in