Elections for a new chairman of the Press Syndicate and six board members will be held on 2 May. The syndicate’s General Assembly has 10,224 members. For the vote to be valid a quorum of 25 per cent is required, meaning more than 2,500 journalists will have to cast a ballot, said Press Syndicate Secretary Gamal Abdel-Rehim.
Eight journalists are seeking the post of chair and 43 candidates are competing for the six board seats that will be contested in the upcoming mid-term election. The vote will be overseen by a judicial committee comprised of members of the Administrative Prosecution Authority. The syndicate’s General Assembly will also form a committee to monitor the ballot.
The election is being held against a backdrop of runaway inflation fuelled by the devaluation of the Egyptian pound and regional instability. Candidate campaigns are focused on increasing journalists’ salaries and pensions and providing them and their families with integrated and free medical services.
Incumbent syndicate head Khaled Al-Balshi and Abdel-Mohsen Salama, former chair of the board of Al-Ahram and a member of the Supreme Council for Media Affairs, are considered the frontrunners and have stepped up their election campaigns in recent days.
Salama said he is running to serve journalists, particularly young ones who need support in light of difficult economic conditions and rapid technological developments. He stressed that he is an independent candidate and is not standing on behalf of a specific faction or group.
“I am not a candidate with party affiliation or representing a political faction. I am an independent candidate with close ties to the government, state institutions and political parties,” said Salama.
Claims that he is the government’s candidate are “neither an accusation nor an advantage”.
“The syndicate is part of the state, it is not a private entity, and I have good relationships with senior state officials, particularly in the Finance Ministry. I want to leverage these relationships to obtain the highest increase in journalists’ salaries possible.”
Salama is expected to hold a press conference next Tuesday to announce the Finance Ministry’s approval to increase funds for training and technological allowances to an “unprecedented level”. In 2023, the allowance was raised by LE600 to LE3,760.
“The increase I will announce next Tuesday will be happy news for all journalists,” said Salama.
He argued that the Press Syndicate is in pressing need of a new chair who can stand up to the challenges facing journalists. “The profession of journalism in Egypt is facing an existential threat. Journalists need a new leader who can restore the prestige and dignity of the syndicate, raise the technical and professional level of journalists, and double their sources of income.”
He explained that the comprehensive economic package he succeeded in securing for journalists was not merely “a promise” or an “attempt”, but had already been approved.
“The package I will announce is the largest in the Press Syndicate’s history and represents an unprecedented increase in incomes and allowances. It depends on the influence and power of the head of the Press Syndicate, his good ties with the government and his ability to negotiate to secure journalists’ rights,” said Salama. He added that he had also convinced the Housing Ministry to allocate 2,500 residential apartments to journalists.
Salama said his platform is realistic and will create a strong syndicate that can defend the rights of its members. He pointed out that during his 2017-19 tenure as head of the Press Syndicate he was able to secure the release a number of imprisoned journalists.
“No journalist was detained during my entire tenure, and I strongly believe that journalism can’t survive without freedoms.” Salama stressed that if he wins the election he will do his best to release imprisoned journalists, whether or not they are members of the syndicate.
He also said he would press for a journalists’ hospital which will “be a comprehensive healthcare facility serving journalists and their families free of charge” and “turn the syndicate’s training centre into an academic institute that awards master’s and PhD degrees”.
Outgoing head of the Press Syndicate Khaled Al-Balshi says he is seeking a new term because “there are projects I launched during my first term that need to be completed, including implementing the recommendations passed by the General Conference of Journalists last December.”
“On top of these recommendations is the drafting of legislation prohibiting imprisonment in publication cases, the introduction of amendments regulating the press and media, passing a freedom of information law, and releasing all imprisoned journalists.”
Al-Balshi noted that during his 2023-25 tenure as head of the Press Syndicate he was able, through negotiations with state authorities, to secure the release of “11 detained journalists, leaving 19 others still in prison”, but “there are positive indicators they will be released very soon.” He added that the syndicate had been paying LE2,000 monthly to the families of detained journalists which he was able to increase to LE6,000.
Al-Balshi’s programme includes amending laws to prevent state authorities from blocking licensed websites in the absence of a judicial order, restoring the syndicate’s role as an influential player on national issues, rehabilitating the syndicate’s training centre and launching a digital development project.
Al-Balshi said he is working closely with state institutions to raise the minimum wage of journalists to LE7,000 per month and “will be in communication with state authorities to achieve this in the coming period”.
He said building a hospital for journalists could cost as much as LE1 billion. “Given the syndicate’s budget is LE105 million, we do not have money to build a hospital, meaning it is more realistic to improve the medical services already provided to journalists.”
If he wins, Al-Balshi says he will push ahead with building the Journalists’ Residential City. Over the past two years 630 apartments have been allocated, with a further 300 apartments to be sold to journalists at reasonable prices. “We paid 25 per cent of the land value and the next step is to select a real estate developer within two months at most, after which construction can begin.”
Al-Balshi also pointed out that during his first tenure the Press Syndicate launched an electronic application to provide syndicate services online, and during a second tenure he aims to spearhead a massive digital transformation.
Other candidates for the post of chair include Sayed Al-Iskandrani and Nora Rashed from Al-Gomhouriya newspaper, Talaat Hashem from Misr Al-Fatah, Mohamed Badawi from the online publication Al-Ghad, Mohamed Maghrabi from Al-Shaab, and Mohsen Hashem from Al-Geel.
The journalists vying to secure a seat on the board are Maher Maqlad (Al-Ahram), Hussein Al-Zanati (Al-Ahram), Mohamed Khoraga (Al-Ahram), Ismail Al-Awami (Al-Ahram), Amr Badr (Al-Dostour), Ayman Abdel-Meguid (Rose El-Youssef), Mohamed Saad Abdel-Hafez (Al-Shorouk), Mohamed Said (Akhbar Al-Youm), Alaa Omran (Al-Gomhouriya), and Mahasen Al-Senoussi (Al-Masry Al-Youm).
* A version of this article appears in print in the 24 April, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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