1938 Egyptian parliamentary election

none Kingdom of Egypt Parliamentary 1936 Egyptian parliamentary election 1936 1942 Egyptian parliamentary election 1942 6 April 1938 130x130px Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha.PNG Mohammed Mahmoud no QawmiyyunQ 626fc0 105 42.61% Ahmad Maher Pasha.jpg Ahmad Maher Pasha Saadist Institutional Party 87 25.43 Mustafa el-Nahhas.PNG Mostafa el-Nahas Wafd Party 14 6.26% Prime Minister Subsequent Prime Minister Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha Liberal Constitutional Party (Egypt) Liberal Constitutional Party (Egypt)thumb|Cartoon by the political magazine Akhir Sa'ah showing a satirical commemorative stamp for the elections Parliamentary elections were held in Egypt on 6 April 1938.Khatib 1954 171According to another historian, prime minister Mahmud dissolved the Chamber of Deputies on 22 February and held elections in Upper and Middle Egypt on 31 March and in Lower Egypt on 2 April.Deeb 1979 337 The result was a victory for the ruling coalition government, dubbed the Qawmiyyun, which won 105 of the 264 seats.Khatib 1954 488 This was the only election that the Wafd Party lost without boycotting, due to election rigging by the government. Background Egyptian politics at this time was divided between the liberal Wafd Party and the conservative palace. The term 'the palace' refers both to the king and his advisors and the minor parties that were traditional enemies of the Wafd. After the Wafd Party won the 1936 elections its leader Mostafa el-Nahas was appointed prime minister. However, issues quickly arose between the Wafd and the conservative palace. The Wafd opposed holding the coronation ceremony for King Farouk in a religious manner due to their secularist tendency.Deeb 1979 334 A constitutional crisis emerged over an empty seat in the Senate because the palace did not believe that the government had the right to appoint senators. The Wafd refused to disband its paramilitary youth wing, the Blue Shirts.Deeb 1979 336 Nahas' government was dismissed on 30 December 1937 after refusing to appoint Aly Maher as Chief of the Royal Cabinet.Quraishi 1967 132–133 A split in the Wafd occurred when a faction led by Ahmad Maher and Mahmoud El Nokrashy left to form the Saadist Institutional Party. A new coalition government was led Prime Minister Mohamed Mahmoud of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party which dissolved parliament on 2 February 1938.Khatib 1954 171 The anti-Wafdist parties joined forces as the Qawmiyyun (Nationalist) coalition to deny the Wafd victory. The government gerrymandered districts, intimidated Wafdist voters and threatened village leaders to rig the elections.Deeb 1979 337–338Terry 1982 241–242 : "To achieve victory in the forthcoming spring elections, Mahmud had the electoral districts gerrymandered to the detriment of the Wafd and also reallocated the Parliament seats. Mahmud’s supporters were driven to the polls, while Wafdist voters were harassed." The government also arrested several former Blue Shirt leaders in March, claiming to find a Wafdist plot to disrupt the elections.Jankowski 1970 91 Results Different sources give different results for the elections. Marius Deeb (1979) puts the results as 77 seats for the Liberal Constitutionalists, 84 for the Saadists, 12 for the Wafd, 11 for the People's Party, five for the Ittihad Party, three for the National Party and 72 independents.Deeb 1979 338Deeb 1979 400 note 152 David Moore (1965) puts the victory at 143 seats for the coalition, 104 for the Saadists, 80 for independents and 14 for Wafdists. The Wafd held on to a plurality of seats in the Egyptian senate, 68 out of 140.Moore 1965 40–44 According to the journalist Philip Graves, the coalition got 99 seats, the Saadists 84, independents 68 and Wafdists 12.(Graves, May 1938, pp. 582–583) The Political Handbook and Atlas of the World gives the numbers as 93 for Liberal Constitutionalists, 89 Saadists, 19 for Ittihad and the People's Party, 13 Wafdists, 3 Nationalists and 47 independents.https://archive.org/details/politicalhandboo0000unse_f3a5 Political Handbook and Atlas of the World, Parliaments, Parties and Press as of January 1, 1941 Council on Foreign Relations 1942 Mallory Walter H. 55 File: Egypt Parliament 1938.svg QawmiyyunQ Coalition of Liberal Constitutional Party, Ittihad Party, People's Party and National Party 755951 105 #626fc0 Saadist Institutional Party 451146 87 Wafd Party 111106 14 Independents 455835 58 1779893 3003326 KhatibKhatib 1954 486–488 Aftermath Mohammed Mahmud remained prime minister until August 1939, when he was replaced by Ali Maher.Terry 1982 242 Parliament sat on 8 May 1938 and was dissolved on 7 February 1942.Khatib 1954 171 Notes References Sources Deeb Marius Party Politics in Egypt: the Wafd & its Rivals 1919–1939 Ithaca Press 1979 9780903729406 Graves Philip Philip Graves March 1938 The Story of the Egyptian Crisis Nineteenth Century and After 297–313 733 CXXIII Graves Philip May 1938 The Egyptian Election Nineteenth Century and After 579–585 735 CXXIII Jankowski James P. 1970 The Egyptian Blue Shirts and the Egyptian Wafd, 1935-1938 https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282308 Middle Eastern Studies Taylor & Francis 6 1 77-95 4282308 JSTOR Khatib M.F. The working of parliamentary institutions in Egypt, 1924-1952 University of Edinburgh https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/34029 1954 Moore David F. The Wafd Party of Egypt: 1936–1945 1965  American University of Beirut https://www.proquest.com/docview/2316005707 2316005707 Quraishi Zaheer M. https://archive.org/details/liberalnationali0000qura Liberal Nationalism in Egypt; Rise and Fall of the Wafd Party Jamal Printing Press 1967 9780861990009 Terry Janice J. The Wafd: Cornerstone of Egyptian Political Power Third World Centre for Research and Publishing 1982 9780861990009 Egypt Egypt Parliamentary Category:Parliamentary elections in Egypt