Left flounders

Divisions within the Tagammu Party continue to undermine its performance, reports Mona El-Nahhas

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Following the failure of the Tagammu Party's leaders to implement their long promised reforms, a number of leading party members have submitted their resignations or else suspended their membership.

Gouda Abdel-Khaleq, head of the Tagammu's economic committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly he had suspended his membership after losing any hope of the party reforming itself. Abdel-Khaleq's decision came days after Tagammu MP Mohamed Telima submitted his resignation.

A second Tagammu MP, El-Badri Farghali, has also threatened to resign if party leaders do not introduce the changes promised five months ago.

Last March members at the party's Central Committee -- appalled at the deterioration in the party's performance -- tabled a vote of no-confidence in party chairman Rifaat El-Said and members of the political bureau.

The party, they said, had lost contact with the public after diverting from its socialist line and moving closer to the regime. They accused El-Said -- who became party chairman in 2003 -- of being responsible for the latest rapprochement with the government.

El-Said has also been criticised for making unilateral decisions and is seen as being responsible for the Tagammu's poor performance in the last parliamentary elections when it won just two seats.

While the no-confidence motion failed to win a majority on the 250-member Central Committee party leaders were presented with a six-months deadline to implement reforms. Should they fail to meet the deadline the Central Committee has said it will then ask that they submit their resignations following an emergency meeting in September.

In 2003 the party's general conference adopted several motions aimed at overhauling the party, though none of them were implemented.

According to the reform plan drafted last March the Tagammu must reconsider most of its political stances, including the party's relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ruling NDP.

"The Tagammu should not be part of the regime's battle against the MB," said Abdel-Khaleq, who also believes the party chairman should deal with the government as the leader of an opposition party and not as an ally of the regime. Abdel-Khaleq argues that El-Said's pro-government position is a major factor in the Tagammu's loss of popularity. "Most of the party's supporters have started to doubt the party's credibility as an opposition group," he said.

While five months have already passed since the reform plan was first mooted, no tangible progress has been made on implementing its recommendations and the dialogue that is supposed to be conducted with party members who have suspended their membership has yet to start.

Calls for forming a coalition to activate the role of the left have not been taken seriously by Tagammu leaders. The party's relationship with the MB and the NDP remains unchanged, as does the editorial policy of the party's weekly mouthpiece Al-Ahali.

The party's Central Committee, scheduled to meet early next month, will review a report prepared by members of the party's political bureau and secretariat-general on the pace of reform within the party.

While El-Said defends his position, insisting that six-months is too short a time in which to overhaul the party, Hussein Abdel-Razeq, Tagammu secretary-general, has said he will be willing to resign if asked to do so.