A shift in style

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MUCH of the usual hoopla was missing when the president inaugurated a major electricity station this week. Dina Ezzat tries to find out why.

Hours before Hosni Mubarak was scheduled to inaugurate the expansion of the massive North Cairo Electricity Station on Monday, there were hardly any signs that a president preparing to run in his first- ever multi-candidate elections was on his way. Ordinarily, there might have been dozens of life-size portraits and hand-written banners hailing the "Blessed Leader" dotting the roads nearby. When Mubarak arrived, he was not met by cheering crowds shouting, "We choose you".

That type of scene was commonplace in previous years, when Mubarak -- who has been in office since 1981 -- was re-elected via a public referendum endorsing parliament's uncontested choice. Key streets in Cairo and other major cities were always dotted by life-size posters of the president, and banners that said things like, "Yes to Mubarak, the leader of the Egyptian people". Whenever the president would inaugurate a public facility in the lead up to the referendum, his arrival and departure almost always featured groups of people shouting, "Yes Mubarak! Yes! Yes".

With the official campaign set to begin in just a few weeks, that dynamic does not look to be taking place -- at least not yet. In general, Mubarak has been keeping a low profile since his announcement, two weeks ago, that he intends to run for a fifth term. He has only made a few public appearances: meeting with a couple of visiting officials and attending the King Fahd funeral last week; spending an hour or so inaugurating the electricity station this week.

"It is going to be different this time," said one presidential source. The president has asked all ministers and governors, the source said, to refrain from bringing in crowds of sympathisers to show their support for the president wherever he goes. In fact, according to others who have served with the president for a few years, Mubarak is determined that his campaign be free of the "shows of public sympathy and support that characterised the referendums of the past." Even though Mubarak knows he is the clear front-runner, he wants to "contest the elections like other contenders", they said.

Presidential sources speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity said Mubarak is well aware of the debate over whether his presidential duties will be mixed up with his electoral campaign. According to the rules set out by the Presidential Elections Committee, candidates can only launch their propaganda campaigns on 17 August. Campaigning will only take place for 19 days -- until 4 September, or two days before the elections. Presidential sources have repeatedly affirmed that Mubarak's regular presidential activities must not be seen as propaganda. At the same time, they said, the president has committed himself to refrain from making any direct references to his electoral plans or promises while performing his regular presidential duties.

They say the president is still working out the details of his electoral campaign, which he hopes will be "impressive and unusual".

At the electricity station inauguration, the only thing that might have been construed as propaganda was the seeming determination on the part of the electricity minister to underline the major improvements in electricity services nationwide that have taken place since 1981 -- the year Mubarak became president.