The officers' club elections (December 1951 - January 1952)

03The officers' club elections (December 1951 - January 1952)

• The battle of the army officers' club elections drew the attention of public opinion inside and outside the army; people felt it was an open clash between the young nationalist officers and the agents of the palace among the army's commanders, headed by Major-General Hussein Sirri Amer, director of the Border Weapons arm.
• King Farouk had moved Major-General Muhammad Naguib, who had held that post, aside so that his creature Hussein Sirri could take it.
• Muhammad Naguib — by then director of the Infantry arm — was nominated for the chairmanship of the club's board, by agreement between him and the leadership committee of the Free Officers organisation.
• The leadership committee decided to fight the election as a way of testing the strength of the organisation and its influence on opinion among the officers, and made the best use of Naguib's name by placing him at the head of the Free Officers' list of candidates.
• Major-General Muhammad Naguib won the chairmanship of the board by a huge majority over his rivals in the first minutes of 1952 — and this was the first victory of the Free Officers.
• Because the king insisted that the Border Weapons arm must be represented by a member on the board, a meeting was held in June — a witnessed meeting that some historians consider the most dangerous military gathering since the Urabi Revolution.
• The extraordinary general assembly unanimously rejected the proposal to represent the Border Weapons arm. It became clear that the king had lost control of the army and that the army had dropped its loyalty to the king — so the revolution passed from secrecy into publicity.