3 - 9 January 2002
Issue No.567
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 3 - 9 January 2002 Issue No.567 |
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Soul-Searching in NDP
Are reforms passed by the ruling National Democratic Party already coming undone? Gamal Essam El-Din explores the stir around two controversial by-elections
Recent weeks have seen mounting dissatisfaction among political insiders regarding the progress of some of the reform measures adopted by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Determined to polish its image in the wake of the party's disappointing performance in the 2000 parliamentary elections, the NDP began a process of aggressive reform. In a recent press interview, President Hosni Mubarak, the party's chairman, revealed that a "second stage" of NDP reform is set to begin, in preparation for next year's municipal elections.
But some political observers note that the reformist trend has yet to shift into gear, insisting that the NDP's "old guard" is still calling the shots. Frustration was evident this week, particularly in the case of by-elections for two vacated parliamentary seats in the constituencies of Al-Azbaqiya (downtown Cairo) and Bilqas (in the Delta governorate of Daqahliya).
The two seats became vacant following an 18 November decision by the People's Assembly (PA) to rescind the parliamentary membership of businessman Rami Lakah (Al-Azbaqiya's MP for the professionals' seat) and Talaat Mutawie (Bilqas' MP for the professionals' seat). Acting on a 27 August final court ruling, the PA decided to strip Lakah and Mutawie of their membership on grounds that they hold dual nationality. Lakah holds French nationality, while Mutawie holds an American one.
By the 4 December cut-off for nominations, some 20 candidates had registered to run in the two constituencies. Topping the list were the NDP's two official candidates: Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, who is seeking the Al-Azbaqiya seat, and Youssri El-Moghazi, who is running for the Bilqas seat. Fearing another loss of the two seats, "old guard" NDPs intervened to thin out the competition. "These were the kinds of practices that negatively affected the party's image in the 2000 elections," Yehia El-Gamal, a veteran professor of constitutional law at Cairo University, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The NDP's two candidates are staunchly old guard. Gamaleddin, 71, is a lawyer who lost the Azbaqiya seat to Lakah in the first round of the 2000 elections, when Lakah gathered some 5,000 votes, while Gamaleddin barely mustered half of that. Furthermore the Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest court, ruled that an earlier election in 1990 was rigged in favour of Gamaleddin. The court ordered that his independent rival, Shawki El-Sayed, the current deputy chairman of the Shura Council's Legislative Committee, be paid LE50,000 in compensation from the Interior Ministry. The story was famously documented in El-Sayed's book "A Massacre Under the Dome."
Ultimately, Gamaleddin's rivals were reduced from eight to three. One of these rivals, Nabil Louqa Bibawi, a former police officer, explained to the Weekly that he gave up his bid when clearly told that the NDP is serious about dismissing members who try to run against the party's official candidates as independents. "This is why I am supporting Gamaleddin," Bibawi said. "It is out of partisan commitment and irrespective of whether Gamaleddin enjoys popularity or not in Al- Azbaqiya."
The cards seem stacked against the NDP's rivals. Gamaleddin was allowed to hold a rally in one of Cairo's biggest public square (Ramses), a move that was seen by many observers as a clear indication of the official support he enjoys. On Saturday, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid attended another rally in support of Gamaleddin, held in Al-Azbaqiya, where the prime minister said that the government was committed to supporting the NDP's candidates since "the NDP is the government's party."
Gamaleddin told the Weekly that the decision by his competitors to pull out of the race does not reflect any constraint on democratic practices, but "rather reflects the party's new reformist moves -- that is, the party's members should not run against each other in elections."
Out of three candidates competing against Gamaleddin in Al- Azbaqiya, two are businessmen. One candidate, Mohamed El- Shimi, has filed two appeals against Gamaleddin with the Administrative Court. El-Shimi asked the court to prevent Gamaleddin from running, claiming that he holds French nationality and dodged military service.
In Bilqas district, Youssri El- Moghazi has also had a helping hand. Like Gamaleddin, El- Moghazi was the NDP's candidate in the 2000. He too was severely routed by Mutawie, who took almost 20,000 votes as opposed to El-Moghazi's 14,000. Mutawie, who was extremely popular, later joined the NDP's ranks. But following his dismissal from parliament, El-Moghazi was propped back up.
Professor El-Gamal insists that the NDP's decision to compel its members to back an "old guard" candidate violates a basic principle of democracy -- that is, to offer the best possible candidate and let the voters decide. "As it is currently in a state of reform and internal review, the party should learn from experience," El-Gamal said.
Critics of the NDP were also unsettled by moves in parliament to change judicial supervision of election. On Sunday evening, an amendment to the Political Rights Law confining judicial supervision in April's municipal elections to principal polling stations was approved by the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament with no legislative powers. The amendment was proposed by NDP deputy Abul-Naga El- Mihrizi, and is expected to be approved by the People's Assembly next week.
El-Mihrizi's draft law was debated and passed by the People's Assembly's Proposals and Complaints Committee with amazing speed last Thursday -- unusual for the committee. "The reason why some MPs' proposed laws are debated and approved quickly is due to the fact that these laws are in form proposed by NDP deputies, but in content, they are government-inspired laws," El- Gamal said. This, he added, means that the government, for fears of a public outcry, refrains in some cases from submitting a certain proposed law in its name, preferring to entrust the task to NDP deputies. El-Gamal dismissed the practice, saying it "simply hijacks parliament for the government's interests."
As expected, El-Mihrizi's proposed law has stirred up public outcry. The opposition asserted the bill is aimed at facilitating the rigging of next April's municipal elections in favour of NDP's candidates. The opposition also said El-Mihrizi's law violates a Supreme Constitutional Court's ruling that in general elections, both principal and auxiliary polling stations should be placed under complete judicial supervision. Kamal El-Shazli, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and the NDP's assistant secretary-general, defended the bill, asserting that the Supreme Constitutional Court's ruling "applies to the elections of the People's Assembly and Shura Council only.
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