After a 6-year absence … a judicial ruling to call for the election of the Tourist Guides Syndicate Council
The Second Individuals Circuit of the Administrative Court ruled today, Sunday, February 25, 2024, to cancel the negative decision to refrain from calling for the general elections of the Tourist Guides Syndicate, in lawsuit No.58505 for the Judicial Year No.76, filed by the lawyer of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), acting as an attorney on behalf of a number of tourist guides.
It is worth mentioning that on July 15, 2015, the General Council of the Tourist Guides Syndicate was elected for the 2015/2018 term, which ended on July 14, 2018. An extraordinary general assembly was called to elect a new council for the 2018/2021 term, and it was scheduled to be held on August 24, 2018. However, the legal quorum for the meeting was not met. The second session was held after 7 days, However, Its legal quorum, which is required to be attended by a quarter of the members, was also not completed, which led the council – whose term had ended – to continue its activities
Following that, Minister of Tourism issued decision No.95 on 17/2/2019, to form a temporary committee to manage the affairs of the Tourist Guides Syndicate. Article No.2 of the decision stipulated that the committee shall call for a general assembly of the syndicate to convene for the election of the president and council members, as well as manage the affairs of the syndicate for a period of 6 months or until the election of the new council, whichever is earlier. Subsequently, several decisions were issued by the Minister of Tourism to extend the committee’s work for consecutive 6-month periods
The committee, described administratively as “temporary,” continued its work for a period exceeding the legal term for the elected councils, which resulted in undermining the authority of the syndicate’s general assembly and conflicting with the constitutional principles of union independence.
Tourist guides have repeatedly demanded the temporary committee to call for elections for the syndicate, However, it has consistently refused to do so for illogical or unrealistic reasons. Therefore, 537 tourist guides submitted a signed request to the committee, requesting it to call for a general assembly of the syndicate that includes, in its agenda, the electoral process for the president’s seat and the council seats. Based on this request, the lawsuit was filed, which ended with the court ruling to cancel the committee’s decision and obligate it to call for the elections.
