Equally stunned
Ruling party and opposition MPs, in both houses of parliament, appeared equally dazed as their speakers read out a letter from the president.
Gamal Essam El-Din reports
As MPs began arriving at the People's Assembly on Saturday, there was no way they could have predicted that Speaker Fathi Sorour would present them with a proposal from President Hosni Mubarak to amend the Constitution to allow for a direct and multiparty presidential poll. Although rumours were rampant last week about Mubarak taking "a significant political reform step", not even ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) insiders could have guessed that this would involve amending the Constitution. Just last month Mubarak described calls for amending the Constitution as "futile".
Mubarak's proposal was received with hesitant applause in both the People's Assembly and the Shura Council. Some NDP MPs resisted reacting too positively lest it seem they were against Mubarak winning a new presidential term. Other NDP members, who just a few days ago were heatedly slamming the opposition's repeated calls for amending the Constitution, stood up to chant, "long live President Mubarak."
The manner by which Mubarak's proposal was presented to MPs made it clear that both the Parliament and Shura Council speakers had known all about it. As soon as Mubarak finished unveiling his proposal -- live on television on Saturday at Menoufiya University -- Parliamentary Speaker Sorour and Shura Council Speaker Safwat El- Sherif, both NDP veterans, began explaining its finer points to MPs. In fact, Sorour, El-Sherif, and Kamal El-Shazli, the state minister for parliamentary affairs, were probably the only three officials who knew about Mubarak's proposal beforehand.
Opposition figures, who took part in a national dialogue meeting with El-Sherif and El-Shazli last week, were also caught by surprise. One of them, Nasserist Party leader Diaaeddin Dawoud, told Al- Ahram Weekly that, "all we knew was that NDP officials had promised that the opposition's call for amending the Constitution would be honoured by President Mubarak."
Dawoud said some opposition leaders were asked by NDP officials to listen to Mubarak's Menoufiya University address because "most of it would be devoted to unveiling a new package of political reform initiatives." They never imagined, however, that these would have anything to do with the Constitution.
Immediately following the speech and Sorour's announcement of Mubarak's proposal, MPs headed for the People's Assembly cafeteria to discuss the news. Most, especially those from the NDP, found it hard to fathom that the long-held taboo on the Constitution had finally crumbled. A statement released by El-Shazli's office described Mubarak's move as heralding "an end to the era of referendums" -- a reference to the yes- or-no referendum by which the president is ordinarily elected. El-Shazli said the new method was far "more democratic than [the one] that has been in use for 35 years".
Like Mubarak, El-Shazli is from Menoufiya. Many MPs said the president's decision to deliver his historical proposal in his home province was deliberate. As one NDP MP put it, "President Mubarak clearly meant for the governorate where he was born to be marked as the place that witnessed the unveiling of his surprise and dramatic reversal on the constitution. At the beginning of his speech, [he] said he was proud to be from Menoufiya."
Mubarak was born on 4 May 1928 in the village of Kafr Al-Mesilha near Shebin Al-Kom, the capital of the Nile Delta governorate.
NDP MPs, well-known for their rubber-stamp mentality, heaped praise on Mubarak's proposal. NDP MP Zakaria Azmi, who heads the presidential staff, said the proposal was perfectly timed to reflect Mubarak's genuine interest in pushing Egypt's democratisation process forward.
Mustafa El-Feki, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said Mubarak's proposal was not a concession to foreign pressure. Mubarak "believes that reform must be gradual and come from within", El-Feki said.
Even non-NDP MPs spoke highly of the proposal. Mohamed El-Badrashini, an independent MP with Nasserist sympathies, called it "a master stroke directed at the heart of political reform".
At the Shura Council, El-Sherif -- who is also secretary-general of the NDP -- said the president's initiative was a very progressive step.
Mohamed Ragab, spokesman of the NDP's parliamentary group, said the proposal clearly revealed that Mubarak was not aiming to turn Egypt into a hereditary republic. "Sceptics should no longer allege that Mubarak is setting Egypt up to be a hereditary republic, since this proposal allows qualified persons to run in an open and competitive ballot."
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