 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 September 1999 Issue No. 448 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 September 1999 Issue No. 448
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Comment Focus Special Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Ministers on the campaign trail
By Gamal Essam El-DinThousands of posters, placards and streamers have sprouted all over Cairo, as well as other cities and towns, pledging support for President Hosni Mubarak's nomination for a new six-year-term. As the nation prepares for the political event, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) concluded on Tuesday its pro-Mubarak rallies, urging voters to head to polling stations next Sunday to say "yes" to Mubarak.
"We all have to go to the polling stations to give an overwhelming 'yes' vote to Mubarak because of his great ability to lead this nation," Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour said on Monday. Sorour, addressing an NDP rally in the southern suburb of Helwan, said Mubarak is "a true believer in democracy, the multi-party system and freedom of expression."
Mubarak's era was also characterised "by respect for law, independence of the judiciary, political stability and a war against corruption," Sorour said. He praised Mubarak for his boldness in implementing an ambitious economic reform programme. "When Mubarak took office in 1981, Egypt was burdened with large debts, a crumbling infrastructure and an anti-investment climate. But Mubarak managed to dispose of one half of the foreign debt, to rebuild the infrastructure completely and to regain investors' confidence in the national economy," Sorour said.
He argued that President Mubarak was keen that the implementation of the economic reform programme would not result in social divisions. "This was reflected in many plans aimed at protecting the poor and those of limited-income from the ravages of economic reform and in many mega-development projects aimed at securing a better future for millions of Egyptians. For all these reasons, we all have to go to the polls on 26 September to turn it into a democracy festival and show loyalty to Mubarak," Sorour said. Sorour concluded by emphasising that "the presidential office is a major responsibility and it is the duty of the people to determine who will assume this responsibility. A negative attitude runs counter to the constitutional article that states that authority stems from the people."
In the same rally, which was organised by Mohamed El-Ghamrawi, NDP deputy for Helwan and minister of state for military production, Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif said that economic development has been at the core of President Mubarak's policies for the past 18 years. "As you all see, Mubarak's involvement in foreign policy and the seeking of a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis did not mean that he would lose sight of economic development policies for Egypt," El-Sherif said.
In Alexandria, four cabinet ministers addressed an NDP rally hailing Mubarak's achievements. Suleiman Metwalli, minister of transport and communications, asserted that the annual per capita income in Egypt increased by 170 per cent due to Mubarak's ambitious socio-economic policies during the past 18 years. "This means that the living standard of most Egyptians has greatly improved. Moreover, Mubarak paid special attention to re-building the nation's infrastructure, including new telephone, road and sewage networks and the construction of new bridges, airports and harbours," Metwalli said.
Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said the NDP rallies' objective is not only to urge people to vote for Mubarak, but also to tell the world that Egyptians hold Mubarak in high esteem for his many achievements.
One of these achievements, El-Shazli said, is the greater democracy Egyptians have come to enjoy under Mubarak, "with the emphasis on protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens."
photos: Adel Ahmed
Public rallies are being held across the country to lobby voters ahead of next Sunday's presidential referendum
For its part, the business community was also anxious to declare support for Mubarak's re-election. In a rally organised by the investors of the 10th of Ramadan industrial city, Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman, minister of housing and new communities, said Mubarak's regime allocated more than LE35 billion to upgrading the water and sanitary sewage networks, LE6 billion to building new roads and bridges and LE60 billion to improving public services.
According to Mahmoud Suleiman, chairman of the 10th of Ramadan city's Association of Investors, President Mubarak was the pioneer of establishing new industrial communities in the desert. These communities, he added, testify to Mubarak's leading role not only in achieving an industrial boom, but in generating millions of job opportunities as well. "The productive projects in the 10th of Ramadan City, as a case in point, have climbed to around 1,000, providing thousands of jobs to young people," Suleiman said. Mohamed Farid Khamis, chairman of NDP's industrial committee, said the new industrial communities created half a million jobs and substantially contributed to boosting exports and production.
The most significant rally, however, was the one held last weekend in Port Said. Organised by representatives of opposition parties, the rally was aimed at publicising support for Mubarak and conveying the message that all political parties condemn the pocket-knife attack against him two weeks earlier in Port Said. El-Badri Farghali, a leftist MP and the principal sponsor of the rally, lashed out at security and municipal officials in the city, blaming them for the proliferation of acts of hooliganism. He accused Port Said Governor Mustafa Sadek, as well as the city's security officials, of turning a blind eye to the burgeoning phenomenon of hooliganism because "they depend on hooligans in providing NDP candidates with support in parliamentary elections."
To the surprise of many, however, the NDP rallies came under sharp attack from a respected columnist for the daily Al-Ahram.
Salah Montasser wrote that the rallies were an obsolete way of campaigning for Mubarak. "Hosni Mubarak does not need these rallies. President Mubarak does not need the NDP to present him to the people because most of the political figures who address these rallies are, in fact, making propaganda for themselves," Montasser said.
Montasser argued that it would be better if the rallies were converted into open conferences on such critical national issues as democracy, unemployment and technology. "In that case, the rallies would have been more useful," he wrote.
