15 - 21 March 2001
Issue No.525
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 15 - 21 March 2001 Issue No.525 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
The hidden issue
As parliament readies to debate the government's policy statement, opposition MPs gear up to tackle the absence of political reform, reports Gamal Essam El-Din
This week saw the beginning of annual parliamentary debates following the presentation of the government's policy statement, delivered by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid on 22 January. Almost two months later, more than 400 MPs are expected to take the floor and expound on a 102-page report issued by a special parliamentary committee in response to the statement.
The committee report focuses on what it calls "high-priority issues," including social inequalities, political reform and improving the investment climate, but the main snag in the policy statement is generally believed to be the conspicuous absence of any political reforms. The failure to address this issue enraged independents and opposition MPs, whose number increased considerably in last fall's parliamentary elections. Stressing the need for reform as the foundation for social stability, the report reminded the assembly that "the question of enlarging the scope of political participation still requires tremendous efforts in order to speed up the democratisation of Egyptian society."
The report did hold some surprises, however. It called the wave of independents who won seats in parliament and then joined the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) a "partisan setback," suggesting that they had been elected on the faith that they were not part of the ruling party. The report also criticised the failure of the Interior Ministry to prepare correct voter lists well ahead of the elections, indicating that people had difficulties voting as a result. Returning to a key issue, the report declared that it is high time the law on the exercise of political rights is revamped to clear up long-standing points of contention, such as the question of dual nationality, which surfaced during the elections.
As expected, members of the Wafd Party were at the forefront of the calls for political reform. Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, leader of the Wafdist bloc, emphasised that we cannot have socio-economic reform without political reform. "Many of the problems in the Egyptian economy are largely due to the lack of democratisation and transparency and the lack of effective supervision for economic institutions," Abdel-Nour said. He argued that "economic liberalisation can never be viable without achieving political liberalisation at the same time," and called for amending the constitution. Pointing to the radical social and political changes that have taken place since the 1970, when the present constitution was drawn up, Abdel-Nour said that Egypt needs a constitution that is in harmony with the developments that have taken place, particularly in the areas of democratisation and human rights.
Joining forces with Abdel-Nour, Wafdist MP Fouad Badrawi, who represents the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahliya, highlighted popular opposition issues. He called for a repeal of the emergency law, no restrictions on forming political parties and freeing the press from government control.
Khaled Mohieddin, leader of the leftist Tagammu Party, announced that he was planning to submit a draft law on the exercise of political rights in the name of all opposition parties. "One of the major objectives of this law is to prepare new and clean voters' lists ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections," said Mohieddin.
Frequent discussion of political reform forced Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamal El-Shazli to intervene repeatedly and contend that the government by no means ignores political reform. "The decision of President Mubarak to place the polls under complete judicial supervision was a good beginning for political reform," El-Shazli said. "The introduction of political reform, however, should be implemented gradually, as has been the case with economic reform." El-Shazli also argued that the emergency law is necessary to effectively stem drug smuggling and stamp out terrorism. He maintained that its application is not used to target political activity.
Speaking for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organisation, Mohamed Mursi took the opportunity of the debates to interject the organisation's agenda into discussions. Ignoring the issue of political reform, Mursi called instead for greater religious "faith" among Egyptians. "Deepening faith in Egyptian society will be achieved by strengthening the role of Al-Azhar in promoting and disseminating religious values. This is necessary in order to fight corruption and boost production," said Mursi. Not to be outdone on this point, El-Shazli rallied behind the call, saying that the government is keen to reinforce the role of Al-Azhar "because it is the lighthouse of Islam, not only in Egypt, but all over the world."
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page