On Sunday the Cinema Syndicate held elections for its chairperson and board members at Faisal Nada Theater. 

For the first time in the syndicate's history, only two members - former chairperson Mossaad Fouda and director Ali Badrakhan - are running for the position of chairperson, after a legal committee excluded director Mohamed Fadel from the elections.

Sixty-four members are currently competing for 12 seats in the syndicate’s board, after 12 runners were excluded and four stepped out.

Although 3390 syndicate members are expected to vote, concerns remain that scheduling issues will cause the turnout to be lower.

The syndicate has been sending text messages to its members' mobile phones over the past few days to remind them of Sunday’s elections. Some nominees are hiring buses to transport voters from provinces outside Cairo.

Fouda fears possible discontent if he is re-elected. Over the past few weeks, a number of cinema professionals have been staging sit-ins against his re-election inside the syndicate’s headquarters and denied him access to the building. But Fouda is counting on his popularity among  state TV employees, after a 14-year career serving its syndicate.

Meanwhile, his opponent, Badrakhan, relies on the omnipresent revolutionary spirit and the desire of the syndicate’s general assembly to pump in new blood. Badrakhan and his supporters have voiced content with a decision to exclude former board members from supervising the elections and subjecting the process to full judicial oversight. To ensure transparency, balloting and vote counting will take place inside the theater.

Translated from the Arabic Edition