Surprise-free party
Tonight, the NDP's annual conference draws to a close with little change expected, reports
Gamal Essam El-Din
The National Democratic Party's (NDP) fourth annual conference ends today with a speech from President Hosni Mubarak that will focus primarily on domestic political issues. Like the three-day conference, the speech is unlikely to contain any surprises though the president is expected to outline a legislative programme for 2007 building on his presidential campaign promises of constitutional reform. He is also likely to use the occasion to attack Western proposals -- especially the US-led Middle East Initiative Project (MEIP) -- that purport to foster democratic change and political reform in Arab countries.
Returning from Saudi Arabia on Monday Mubarak told reporters that any radical shake-up of NDP ranks was off the agenda. Nor, he said, had he any intention of resigning as president of Egypt after the end of NDP conference.
"These are just rumours that from time to time some people find it convenient to disseminate and believe," Mubarak said.
Mursi Attallah, editor of the evening daily Al-Ahram Al-Masaai, reported that Mubarak also said he had no personal interest in the drafting of any proposed constitutional amendments since he will be leaving office at the end his current term, due to expire in 2011.
Constitutional amendments dominated conference proceedings yesterday, with details of proposed changes revealed in the NDP discussion document Citizenship and Democracy which draws heavily on Mubarak's nine-point political reform programme.
Changes to controversial articles 76 and 77 of the constitution regarding conditions for running as president and the president's term in office respectively were not mentioned, disappointing opposition parties, democracy activists and even liberal members of the NDP.
Abdel-Moneim Said, a member of the NDP's Policies Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that any constitutional amendments discussed during the conference would remain hollow so long as articles 76 and 77 were unchanged.
"Unfortunately Egypt will continue to be as far as ever from serious political reform as long as the NDP continues to insist that gradualism be the hallmark of all change," said Said.
The Tagammu and Wafd parties had hoped the NDP would use the conference to announce a loosening of the conditions of nomination for the top office and the limiting of presidential terms.
NDP officials rallied in the face of opposition criticism. Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Moufied Shehab insisted that all the proposed amendments had emerged following open debates and there were no hidden agendas. "The proposed changes were debated at length by the party's committees and reflect the views of the majority of party members," he said.
The NDP's secretary-general, Safwat El-Sherif, argued that "the party's rejection of calls to amend articles 76 and 77 does not imply it is turning a deaf ear to opposition demands," only to follow up his words by saying that the constitution already protects the rights and freedoms of citizens and there is no pressing need for it to be changed.
Gamal Mubarak, head of the NDP's influential Policies Committee and assistant secretary- general of the party, also joined the fray, saying that the scope of the proposed constitutional amendments is "unprecedented... and will shape the constitutional life of Egypt for at least the next 30 years."
Speaking on Wednesday, Shehab said the proposed amendments deal with nine key issues, including empowering the People's Assembly with the right to withdraw confidence from the government without referring the issue to a public referendum; securing the assembly a greater role in scrutinising the state budget; strengthening the review powers of the Shura Council regarding constitutional amendments; reinforcing the powers of the cabinet by obliging the president of the republic to seek the opinion of the prime minister, speaker of the People's Assembly and chairman of Shura Council in cases where national unity or security are threatened; and allowing the cabinet to review decrees before they are referred to the president.
On the issue of a new electoral system and the fixing of a quota of women parliamentarians, Shehab said the NDP had decided to leave the matter for public debate. He also revealed that devolving greater powers to local councils will require not only amending the relevant articles in the constitution, but also an overhaul of the law governing municipal councils.
The NDP will also seek to reinforce judicial independence by abolishing the office of the socialist prosecutor-general and the Higher Council of Judicial Authorities.
"These two entities were created in exceptional circumstances and it is high time they were scrapped," said Shehab, who concluded his outline of the constitutional changes sought by the NDP by explaining that the proposed anti- terror law does not aim to replace the emergency law but "abolish the state of emergency".
Emergency provisions will remain, he said, but will only be invoked should domestic national security be threatened.
NDP officials did not discuss the possibility of ending judicial supervision of elections and President Mubarak has said the current individual candidacy system, coupled with full judicial supervision, will be applied to next year's Shura Council elections.
While constitutional amendments were the focus of debate, it was the figure of Gamal Mubarak who seemed to attract most of the limelight amid persistent rumours he is being groomed to take over from his father. That he denied any such ambitions, telling reporters yesterday, on the fringe of the conference, that his position remained the same as four years ago, and he had no aspirations to become president, is unlikely to end the feverish speculation.
On the relationship between Egypt and the United States the younger Mubarak said the two countries had strong strategic ties that are developing all the time but "this does not mean that the views of the two countries are always the same."
On the conference's first day Gamal Mubarak criticised Washington's MEIP, saying "the NDP cannot accept ideas about a greater Middle East or a New Middle East." Said, though, saw the attack as little more than a diversionary tactic. "With the US administration's growing problems in Iraq and with Iran, the NDP now feels free of any US pressure and wants to score popularity by attacking the MEIP," he said.
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