MPs in political limbo
The debate over military service and political office continued as an ad hoc People's Assembly committee began investigating which MPs will be affected by a Supreme Constitutional Court ruling. Gamal Essam El-Din reports
Sorour
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A special People's Assembly committee held two meetings this week to determine which MPs would be affected by a much-publicised Supreme Constitutional Court ruling stipulating that MPs who have not done their military service, or have no legal reason for exemption from it, must have their parliamentary membership revoked.
An estimated 20 MPs -- all from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) -- may be affected by the 17 August ruling. In meetings held on Sunday and Monday, the committee -- headed by Amal Othman, the Assembly's deputy speaker and a former minister of social affairs and insurance -- examined the case files of 15 of the MPs against whom election appeals had been lodged on grounds of their not having performed military service without a legally valid exemption.
The MPs whose cases were heard on Sunday were Usama El-Sharqawi (Kafr Al-Dawwar, Beheira), Ahmed El-Khouli (Minshaat Al-Qanatir, Giza), Moraga' El-Ozomi (Ameriya, Alexandria), Abdel-Rahman Radi (Rod Al-Farag, Cairo), and Farag Boraik (Ras Sedr, South Sinai).
On Monday, the committee looked into the cases of Adel Ashour (Al-Hawamdiya, Giza), Ali Riad Abu Dola (Al-Fashn, Beni Suef), Mahmoud Abdel-Ghaffar (Ahnasia, Beni Suef), Mustafa Shaheen (Berkit Al-Sabaa, Menoufiya), Hosni Hanafi (Hurghada, Red Sea), Mahmoud Makhaleef (Matariya, Cairo), Mohamed Rifaie (Al-Nozha, Cairo), Salooma Hakim Mar'ie (Marsa Matruh), Abdu Gaber (Bab Al-Shi'riya, Cairo) and Hermas Radwan (Beni Ebeid, Mansoura).
The remaining cases will be discussed in the coming few days.
A variety of defenses were put forward by the affected MPs during the discussions. One common argument claimed that the immediate and strict implementation of the 17 August ruling would cause too many difficulties and complications; to avoid these, the ruling should not apply retroactively, but starting the next parliamentary elections, in November 2005.
Another point of contention had to do with the sudden contradictory nature -- in light of the recent court ruling -- of the two laws governing the performance of military service. The first (1972's Law 38) was the one the court said should be interpreted to mean that those who have reached 35 years of age without having done their military service, or have no legal reason for exemption from it, must have their parliamentary membership revoked. The second (1980's Law 127) is the law governing the military conscription system, which says citizens who reach 35 years of age without having done their military service have the right, in all circumstances, to run for elections, but only after paying a LE500 fine.
Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Ali Abu Dola, one of the affected MPs, said, "both laws were issued by the People's Assembly and recognised by the state. It's not our fault that both laws have now become contradictory. If the ruling is applied, we'll have been penalised twice -- once, by paying the fine, and now, by losing our membership." Abu Dola described the situation as being "unfair and contradictory".
MP Zakaria Azmi, an NDP heavyweight who is also chief of the presidential staff, stressed the importance of referring 1980's Law 127 to the court to examine its constitutionality, and ensure that the two laws were not in conflict.
Adding salt to the wound, perhaps, was the fact that the 17 August ruling also prohibits the affected MPs from running in any future elections. Hermas Radwan told Al-Ahram Weekly that this was "completely unfair because we have another law [1956's law on the exercise of political rights] which allows even spies and criminals to get their political rights back after serving their jail terms -- including the right to run for election. We are neither spies nor criminals to be stripped of exercising our political rights for life", Radwan said. Some MPs have threatened to cause internal NDP disruptions if the party's leadership supports their memberships being revoked.
In response, Mohamed Moussa, chairman of parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, confirmed the ruling's view that performing military service was a sacred national duty, and that those who had failed to perform it without an acceptable legal excuse must be prohibited from standing in elections forever.
On Sunday, NDP Secretary-General Safwat El- Sherif said that President Hosni Mubarak had given clear instructions that the 17 August ruling should be strictly implemented.
Moussa told Al-Ahram Weekly that the application of the ruling would be smooth. "The court ordered that MPs who reached 35 years of age without having done military service, and who have no legal reason for exemption, must be suspended. This means," Moussa said, "that MPs who are found to have a legal reason for exemption will not be suspended."
According to legal pundits, Law 127 stipulates, amongst the possible reasons for military exemption, being the family's sole breadwinner. "It must be proven that they were a family's only source of income, and that they remained so until the age of 35," Moussa said.
Many of the affected MPs claimed that precise condition for exemption applied to them. Cairo MP Abdel-Rahman Radi said he was his family's sole breadwinner because his father died at an early age. Another Cairo MP, Abdu Gaber, said he became his family's sole breadwinner after his father divorced his mother.
Other supposedly legitimate reasons were also proffered for past exemptions. Beni Suef MP Abu Dola said he worked in Libya until he was over 35. "When I came back, I paid the required fine," he said.
South Sinai's Farag Boraik said that when he reached the age that made him eligible for the draft, Sinai was occupied by Israel. "By the time the Israelis withdrew from Sinai, I had reached 35, and I paid the fee that was required," Boraik said. Another Sinai MP, Ibrahim Rafie, provided the committee with a copy of an official decree (567/ 1983) which exempted Sinai's citizens who lived under the six-year Israeli occupation (1967-1973) from performing military service.
Moussa said the ad hoc committee would be in close coordination with the Ministry of Defense, the Military Prosecutor's Office, and the Army's Registration Administration Department, in order to verify the documents provided by the MPs.
