28 June - 4 July 2001
Issue No.540
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 June - 4 July 2001 Issue No.540 |
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Electoral reform back on the agenda
President Mubarak believes there is a need for a new electoral law which would ensure stability and commitment to national interests, and that it should be ready in a year or two, reports Gamal Essam El-Din
In his capacity as chairman of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday met the party's newly-elected members of the Shura Council to provide guidelines and brief them on a number of domestic and foreign issues.
Mubarak hammering out a number of issues with NDP Shura members
photo: Mustafa Atia
During the one-hour meeting, incumbent Shura Council Speaker Mustafa Kamal Hilmi was re-nominated. Tharwat Abaza and Mohamed Mursi were re-nominated for the posts of deputy speakers.
In political and parliamentary terms, Mubarak urged the People's Assembly and Shura Council to respect the rulings handed down by courts of law. "The argument that the Assembly is the master of its own decision may be sound, but when rulings are handed down by the Court of Cassation (the highest judicial authority in Egypt), they should be respected by parliament," Mubarak said. "We need a parliament that conforms to the Constitution and is marked by integrity. This applies to both the People's Assembly and Shura Council."
Two weeks ago, the Court of Cassation supported a ruling in January by the Administrative Court that the parliamentary membership of businessman Rami Lakah should be declared null and void because he had dual nationality. Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour said the House would take action in compliance with the Cassation Court's order.
Mubarak also revealed that a "legal group" had been entrusted with drafting a law to reform the existing electoral system. "I have asked a legal group to study the possibility of drafting a new electoral law that cannot be contested constitutionally and that ensures stability and the commitment of parties, individuals and deputies to national interests," Mubarak said.
"This does not mean that a decision is in the making to dissolve the People's Assembly," he said. "There should be an open dialogue on the proposed law in order to reach what we hope for in a year or two."
On the Middle East peace process, Mubarak said the visit of United States Secretary of State Colin Powell was in response to Egypt's efforts to persuade the US to play a greater role in stemming the deterioration of the situation in the region. "There should be an urgent movement and commitment to the cease-fire," Mubarak said. "The blockade of Palestinian areas should be lifted and the means of livelihood should be ensured for the Palestinians."
The Shura Council's three procedural sessions to re-nominate its speaker and deputy speakers followed three-stage mid-term elections to fill 88 Council seats. With the opposition virtually boycotting the poll, the NDP easily swept to victory, winning 74 seats, eight of them unopposed. The remaining 14 seats (15.9 per cent) went to independent candidates.
The NDP fielded 92 candidates in the elections which began on 16 May and ended on 13 June.
Mubarak, using his constitutional powers, appointed 45 Council members on Saturday, bringing the total number of newly-elected and appointed members to 133, constituting half the total membership. The list of appointees includes 24 new members and 21 old faces.
Appointed members who lost their seats include Amina El-Guindi, minister of social affairs, and five former ministers: Hassan El-Alfi, Mahmoud Mahfouz, Adel Ezz, Youssef Sabri Abu- Taleb and Ahmed Nouh. The chairmen of two small opposition parties, Mohamed Abdel-Aal (Social Justice Party) and Ahmed El-Sabahi (Umma Party), also lost their seats.
More significant was Mubarak's list of new appointees. It included Interior Minister Habib El-Adli, former Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Suleiman Metwalli, and Mohamed Bassiouni, the Egyptian ambassador to Israel.
Bassiouni was recalled by President Mubarak from Tel Aviv last November in protest against Israel's escalating aggression against the Palestinians. His appointment to the Shura Council means that he has retired from his Foreign Ministry post in accordance with the regulation that a diplomat cannot be a member of the People's Assembly or Shura Council.
Bassiouni was elected as deputy chairman of the Shura Council's Arab Affairs, Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee. The list of new appointees included four opposition figures: Rifaat El-Said of the leftist Tagammu Party, Usama Shaltout, chairman of El-Takaful (Social Solidarity Party), Abdel-Moneim Al-A'aser, chairman of the Green Party, and Mohamed Sarhan, a member of the Wafd Party's Supreme Authority.
Mubarak also appointed three Copts and seven women to the Council's membership.
The 264-member Shura Council now includes 233 NDP members, six appointed opposition figures and 25 independents. It also includes seven cabinet ministers, four former ministers, two former prime ministers, 11 Copts and 15 women.
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