Changing tactics

Last week -- less than a month after the Al-Ghad Party was finally licensed -- the Political Parties Committee approved the foundation of yet another party. Mona El-Nahhas reports

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In an unusual move, the Political Parties Committee -- an affiliate of the Shura Council -- approved the formation of the Free Social Constitutional Party last week, after a two-hour meeting with its founder, lawyer Mamdouh Qenawi.

The committee -- authorised to provide licences to new parties -- was always more about denying those licences. Since its foundation in 1977, the committee has rejected dozens of applications on the pretext that the would-be new parties' platforms do not differ from any of the existing ones. Over the past 27 years, the committee rejected 63 applications, authorising just two -- Al-Wefaq Al-Watani (the National Accord), and Al-Geel Al-Democrati (the Democratic Generation).

Beginning last month, however, the committee seems to have decided to change its image. On 28 October, it approved the foundation of the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, even though the party's platform had already been rejected three times. Last week, it authorised the Free Social Constitutional Party after rejecting it in July 2003. The new party has brought the number of political parties in Egypt up to 19.

Analysts believe the government, by approving the foundation of new parties, regardless of their size, ideology or effectiveness, was trying to give off the impression that it is achieving political reform. The change in the committee's policy follows last September's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) conference that called for a "new way of thinking".

According to prominent Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama, the committee does not really use clear criteria when it approves or disapproves the creation of political parties. When it used to reject applications, he said, it wouldn't provide convincing reasons. And now that it has opened the doors, there are no clear reasons either. "The whole issue is that the committee is currently trying to cope with the NDP's reform calls," Salama said. He warned, however, that "opening the door to the foundation of parties in this way would lead to a state of political anarchy." The existence of numerous, yet weak, political parties, Salama said, "will not produce changes in political life, since the NDP will be the only party benefiting from the existence of such marginal forces."

Salama questioned the committee's approval of Qenawi's party, whose platform does not differ from any of the existing parties, while rejecting a distinguished party like Al-Wasat at the same time.

Qenawi, the 66-year-old founder of the Free Social Constitutional Party and a former member of the Shura Council, described the committee's approval as "a promising step on the reform path, regardless of the government's true intentions."

Shura Council speaker Safwat El-Sherif, who took over the chairmanship of the Political Parties Committee last July, was quoted following the committee's approval as saying, "the committee has approved the foundation of new parties, because we believe in the democratic system whose foundations were laid out by President [Hosni] Mubarak, who called for giving new parties fair opportunities to appear, via the framework of the constitution and the law."

According to El-Sherif, other new parties would soon be licensed as well.

"Approving the foundation of two new parties in less than a month," Qenawi said at a press conference held on Monday to celebrate the licensing of his party, "reflects a governmental shift towards democracy, which every one of us should appreciate." While admitting that his party is still small, Qenawi hoped "it would produce a remarkable change in Egypt's political life." The new party currently only has 192 members.

After throwing light on the party's programme and political line, Qenawi announced the formation of a temporary, 20-member, higher committee that will be responsible for the party's affairs for two years until elections are staged. "It's illogical to hold a general congress for a new party immediately after getting the licence," Qenawi said, which appeared to be a stab at the Ghad Party, which staged its elections just a week after being authorised.

"Delaying elections for two years will give us enough time to meet the public and increase the size of our membership," he said.

Qenawi was a leading member of the Labour Party until 1987, when he was dismissed for severely criticising the party's alliance with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood prior to parliamentary elections. The Labour Party had traded its socialist bent for an Islamist one, as an attempt by its leaders to shore up the party's declining popularity, but "that alliance was nothing but a death certificate for the party," Qenawi said. The party has been frozen since 2000.

Calling itself a liberal party, the Free Social Constitutional Party calls for widening the nation's margin of freedom and democracy, respecting human rights, paying attention to citizens' needs, and finally achieving comprehensive political reform by amending the current constitution. Since all opposition parties have repeatedly voiced these demands, observers said the party has nothing new to offer.

Qenawi, however, said he was not impressed by the existing opposition parties' performance, which is why, he told those who had come to the press conference, his party was not going to join the alliance formed by nine opposition parties to tackle issues of political reform. "These parties lack credibility and honesty. They are ineffective, and have achieved nothing for the public for more than 25 years. I think they should reform themselves first before talking about reform," he said.

Officials at the frozen Labour Party, meanwhile, have begun to think it was about time for their party to re-emerge, especially considering the changing attitude at the Political Parties Committee. The Political Parties Committee suspended the Labour Party, and banned its mouthpiece Al-Shaab, in May 2000, after a struggle over the party's chairmanship.

Last Thursday, Labour Party leaders gathered in front of the Shura Council building and called for a meeting with El-Sherif, in his capacity as chairman of the Political Parties Committee. When they eventually met him, they accused the government of not abiding by court rulings in the Labour Party's favour. Since its suspension, the Administrative Court has laid down 14 rulings legitimising the restoration of the party as well as its banned mouthpiece. "None of the rulings were implemented, simply because the government will never allow a party with an Islamic touch to exist," said Mahfouz Azzam, the frozen party's deputy chairman. "The recent improvement in the Political Parties Committee's performance will not be applied to us," Mahfouz told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Other parties will benefit as long as they are not Islamist."

The government denied these claims. During his meeting with the Labour Party, El-Sherif said the state respects court rulings. There were no political disagreements between the state and the party, he said, but the Political Parties Committee had to wait until the political parties court gave its final word on the party's future.