Abu Bakr El-Gendi

Abu Bakr El-Gendi Cairo – Akram Ali    Egypt’s head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Abu Bakr El-Gendi said that elections are not democratic, as the results of  Egypt’s parliamentary elections  and do not represent the whole society; however, he is not worried of Islamists’ winning, he added, expressing his optimism. In an exclusive interview with ‘Arabstoday’, El-Gendi said that although the election was fair, it doesn’t represent the whole society due to the lack of political awareness among Egyptians to choose their representatives in the People’s Assembly. El-Gendi explained that the young revolutionaries should have made more efforts to raise the political awareness in the Egyptian society about choosing their representatives; as well as, forming political parties and coalitions, especially a large number of Egyptians wanted young people to be represented in the parliament. He considered the winning of Egyptian bloc with a number of votes as a success, especially the Egyptian bloc which  includes two new parties that were formed after the revolution (Free Egyptians Party and Egyptian Social Democratic Party), which means, according to El-Gendi a proof that Egyptians wanted others with Islamists in the Parliament. Regarding the winning of Islamists in the elections, El-Gendi said “I’m not worried of Islamists, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, because they represent moderate Islam, as well as they sent messages of reassurance.” He added that for the Salafists, they have to be excused, because of their lack of experience in politics, and called on the Egyptian people not to worry. About forming Egypt’s new Constitution, El-Gendi said “forming the Constituent Assembly should be with consensus because the current parliament does not represent the whole Egyptian society.” Referring to forming the Advisory Council, he said “it includes the Egyptian political elites, and at the end this Council hasn’t any legislative or administrative function, but it aims to provide advice to the SCAF, as it was accused of taking unilateral decisions.” In another context, El-Gendi said that Egypt is facing an economic crisis, stressing that Ganzouri’s government should find non-stereotyped solutions, such as increasing taxes and adopting austerity measures. About the responsibility of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics to make a comprehensive statistical of the Egyptian Revolution's martyrs, El-Gendi said “we don't have accurate statistics so far,” adding “we issued a burial permit for each dead in Egypt, which includes the cause of death, and during the clashes we noticed that the death rate as a result of gun shot wounds increased.”