Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Opposition party politics

By Omayma Abdel-Latif

It has been an eventful year for party politics. Splits, infighting and dissension have been the order of the day in nearly all opposition parties. The Nasserists continue to suffer a generation gap between the old guard and younger generations, resulting in the defection of a group led by Hamdin El-Sabahi, head of the Press Syndicate's Cultural Committee, who sought to establish his own Al-Karama (dignity) Party. The stalled Liberal Party is not yet back on track, its leadership claimed by more than one person.

The year also saw a split within the ranks of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party over the influential role played by Adel Hussein, secretary general of the party. The schism led to the party's division into two fronts: one led by Ahmed Shukri, son of party Chairman Ibrahim Shukri and another led by Hussein. Attempts at reconciliation have not yet borne fruit.

However, as the opposition braces itself for the forthcoming parliamentary elections, these rifts could not have come at a more difficult time. In an election year, it has been argued, political parties should have been busy searching for candidates and formulating new strategies.

But opposition figures speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly downplayed the impact of these differences on the internal cohesion of their parties and their ability to remain viable opposition forces.

In fact, some went as far as to describe news reports of opposition rifts as "a governmental ploy, smacking of a premature attempt to discredit the opposition and cover up for its [the government's] misconduct during election time".

"What has happened in the Labour Party is not a deep rift as such. What is being reported in the national press does not reflect reality," insisted Magdi Qurqur, a party official. Explaining his view, Qurqur said that, contrary to news reports, the party's popularity has not been affected at all. "Our membership base has increased due to the press campaigns [in the party's mouthpiece Al-Shaab] against [ministers] Youssef Wali and Farouk Hosni," Qurqur told the Weekly

While confirming that preparations for elections were discussed at length during recent party meetings, he said the party had not yet decided on whether it should participate. According to Qurqur, a final decision depends on the general political situation and the electoral guarantees offered by the government.

"It is very likely that we may boycott the election if the government does not respond to our demands of full judicial supervision of the electoral process and being given the right to organise public rallies to voice our political agenda," Qurqur said.

The picture is not any clearer in the liberal Wafd Party. Although the Wafd has not been blemished by internal power conflicts, elections have proved to be a point of contention within party ranks. "There is a big divide on whether we should run for election. The voting process has been delayed twice because of this clash," Ibrahim Abaza, the party's assistant secretary-general, said. The balance, so far, tilts in favour of boycotting the elections.

While a consensus seems to be building up among opposition forces that an election boycott must remain an option, this does not make sense to Khaled Mohieddin, chairman of the leftist Tagammu Party. "We have always been against an election boycott. It is always better to participate. Our aim is to increase the number of [our] seats as much as we can," Mohieddin told the Weekly. The party's central committee will convene at the end of January to outline the election programme which, according to Mohieddin, will place special emphasis on economic problems, price hikes, unemployment and housing. Party candidates will be named and a campaign budget will be allocated.

Mohieddin's political pragmatism has dashed hopes of the opposition's forging a united front against the government in the forthcoming elections. An analysis of the political scene by some observers clearly suggests that striking alliances between political parties during the present situation is highly unlikely. Politics of compromise, it was argued, are more likely to sideline matters of principle.

"Each party will seek to make electoral gains at the expense of inter-party coordination. Some may even strike deals with the government in order to guarantee that they will be allocated a certain number of seats," said a political analyst.

Contrary to this view, however, some opposition figures did not rule out the possibility of coordinating with other political forces simply to ensure that their candidates do not run against each other. Some have even conceded the possibility of striking new alliances and maintaining old ones.

For example, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, according to Qurqur, remains the number one force the Labour Party could ally itself with, but an alliance with "all the national political forces, particularly the Nasserists," remains an open possibility.

The Brothers, who have suffered the wrath of the government since 1995 and were stripped of almost all their political gains, are treading cautiously on the election issue. Are they running for election? Ma'moun El-Hodeibi, the group's spokesman, declined to provide a definite answer. Nevertheless, he made their participation conditional on the election system.

"We cannot take any decisions at the moment because nobody knows what the election system is going to be like," El-Hodeibi said. He also refused to confirm or deny that alliances with political forces, such as the one forged in 1987 with the Wafd Party, was on the cards. El-Hodeibi was cautious, raising the possibility that the Brotherhood, which recently took some measures to make peace with the government, may stay out of the election game in return for a better chance of integrating into the political system.

Abaza and others share the view that political parties are weak and lack the ability to make serious inroads at the expense of the ruling party. Abaza held the government responsible. "If the parties suffer internal conflicts and fragmentation, it is a manifestation of a weak government," he said.

In an attempt to compromise, Abaza suggested that if the government is running short of time for conducting all the legal amendments needed to guarantee a fair election, two things should be done: a suspension of the emergency law and the appointment of a "neutral government" for the duration of election time. "We need technocrats who have no partisan loyalties whatsoever that may affect the election outcome," Abaza said.

Government compliance seems highly unlikely.

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