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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Debate Focus Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Shura debates political reform
By Gamal Essam El-DinKamal El-Shazli, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, has vowed that integrity will be the hallmark of next year's parliamentary elections and that they will be held under full judicial supervision.
"To expand the judiciary's supervision of elections in all their stages, an amendment to the 1956 law on the exercise of political rights, popularly known as the electoral law, will be submitted soon to the People's Assembly," El-Shazli announced to the Shura Council last Sunday. However, he rejected a proposal that the elections be spread over several days. This, he said, would waste the judiciary's time and delay court proceedings.
Announcing another procedural change ahead of the upcoming elections, El-Shazli said that a bill will be submitted to the People's Assembly to revise the definition of the terms "farmers" and "workers".
According to the constitution, one half of the seats in parliament are reserved for representatives of farmers and workers. However, due to the imprecise definitions used for these categories, several candidates elected to parliament as representatives of farmers and workers in recent years were revealed to not actually belong to these two groups.
Regarding the individual candidacy system, El-Shazli reaffirmed that it, rather than the slate system, will be retained in next year's parliamentary elections.
Under the individual candidacy system, all candidates, regardless of whether they are independents or affiliated with a political party, are required to stand for election individually. In contrast, the slate system obliges candidates of each political party to run on a single ticket in each constituency.
Commenting on the last parliamentary elections, El-Shazli conceded that some instances of hooliganism occurred. However, he affirmed that the ruling National Democratic Party is ready to cooperate with opposition parties to ensure that the next elections are fair.
Joining forces with El-Shazli, Fat'hi Ragab, a council member and a lawyer by profession, declared support for the individual candidacy system on the grounds that "it is free from constitutional defects". He added, "The opposition does not like this system because it requires them to have grassroots support. I challenge any of the opposition figures to win if the individual system is retained."
El-Shazli's announcements were made in the course of discussions on a 46-page report prepared by a special Shura Council committee on the speech delivered by President Hosni Mubarak to a joint session of the People's Assembly and Shura Council on 13 November.
The report cited Mubarak's comments that "the state guarantees the widest scope for the people's participation and requires objectivity in policy-making and decision-making." Taking Mubarak's comments as a directive for the revision of the law on the exercise of political rights, the report states "The law, which was passed years ago, is no longer viable."
Asserting the view that the bicameral legislative system, which is made up of an upper and lower house, is conducive to a healthy political order, the report suggests that the Shura Council should be given a greater role in debating draft laws.
At present, the council has no legislative powers and is considered a purely consultative body. Following requests by the president, the council has debated the state budget, some draft laws and agreements, but according to the report "this is not enough to promote legislative stability in Egypt".
Addressing the revision of the definitions for farmers and workers, the report suggests that the 1972 law which regulates the operation of the People's Assembly was inadequate in dealing with this issue. It said, "The law does not stipulate that workers and farmers should have a high level of education to be eligible for parliamentary membership. This is no longer acceptable at a time when Egypt is trying hard to keep abreast of the latest technology."
Referring to Mubarak's comments about the need for greater cooperation between the government and the People's Assembly in passing laws, the report affirmed the centrality of the legislative function to democracy saying: "Legislating, however, is not only a matter of passing laws. It also reflects the supremacy of law, gives a boost to democracy and reinforces the sanctity of judicial rulings. This requires that different bodies should collaborate in scrutinising draft legislation."
The report also proposed the enactment in the near future of "several overdue laws related to labour, health insurance and social insurance".
Discussion heated up when some opposition figures demanded that priority should be given to the revision of the general elections law.
In a related issue, Rifaat El-Said, a deputy for the leftist Tagammu Party, asserted that voters lists should be revised to remove the names of expatriates and deceased persons. "The current lists should be scrapped and replaced by new ones based on the civil registry or the new 'national [identification] number' assigned to citizens," he said.
According to El-Said, the new law should limit the amount of financial donations an election candidate may accept. "Extravagant spending on election campaigns endangers democracy. A legislative amendment should be introduced to place a ceiling on expenditures to ensure that parliamentary seats do not go to unwanted persons," he said.
On the subject of election fraud, El-Said said, "The penalty for rigging elections and the resort to acts of hooliganism in election campaigns should also be stiffened to put an end to the phenomenon of hooliganism in politics."
