Party impolitic

A crisis threatens to tear the Nasserist Party apart, reports Mona El-Nahhas

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Since last December's fourth general conference the Arab Nasserist Party has been split down the middle, with one camp, led by the party's influential secretary-general, Ahmed Hassan, engaged in an on-going battle with opponents led by the Chairman of the Bar Association Sameh Ashour.

Ashour, who abandoned the party in 2002, decided to return to the party's ranks "to reform its structure". What that means, according to Ashour, is amending the party's internal statutes to curb the power of the party's secretary-general. His strategy is to create a new post, that of first deputy chairman.

Hassan has been urging party members to vote against the creation of the new position during the party's coming conference, scheduled for 8 March.

When Ashour first suggested the post during last December's fourth general conference he met with fierce opposition from Hassan and his supporters.

Beyond renewing the mandate of the party's 80-year-old figure head Diaaeddin Dawoud for six years, December's conference conspicuously failed to broach the issues that now threaten to tear the party apart. Rather, it fuelled existing rifts when the conference organisers, the majority Hassan's supporters, refused to begin election procedures, arguing that the holders of senior posts, including that of secretary-general, should remain in office.

Many party members blame Hassan's stands for the party's low standing. Accusations of abusing his position and misusing party funds have been repeatedly levelled at the party's secretary-general who nonetheless continues to receive what many qualify as Dawoud's "blind" backing.

This time, though, the reformist wing of the party appears determined to take on Hassan. Not only have they made common cause with Ashour, but are now threatening to dismiss Dawoud should he continue to take Hassan's side, regardless of the will of the party's rank and file.

In a statement issued this week, they invited party members to attend an alternative general conference, due to be held on 7 March, a day before the official conference called for by Dawoud.

Ashour has already begun meetings with the local heads of the party in Alexandria, Suez, Minya, Sohag and Aswan in an attempt to drum up support for his proposed changes.

The reformists issued their statement a day after Dawoud announced that the 8 March conference's mandate will be limited to electing the party's secretary-general and four deputies, effectively preempting any amendment of the party's statutes to create the new post Ashour covets.

Dawoud's announcement, which followed earlier pledges that he would respect the will of members in determining forthcoming elections, has led to growing suspicions that next month's conference will be a repetition of its stage-managed predecessor.

"Everything is being planned in advance. The conference is being held simply to legitimise the status quo," said Farouq El-Ashri, a member of the party's political bureau who intends to run against Hassan.

According to Mahmoud El-Asqalani, a supporter of Ashour, the reformists' recommendations will be presented to Dawoud before the next conference starts. "If he approves the recommendations it will be fine. If not we would be forced to consider him an obstacle to reform and may then demand a vote of no confidence."

Last June Dawoud announced that he would not be seeking re-nomination, preferring instead to allow the younger generation to take the helm of the party. Though at the time he insisted his decision was final, he subsequently backtracked. "Continuity," he argued, "is necessary to preserve the unity of the party at such a crucial juncture."

The U-turn enraged reformers within the party. Attempting to calm the situation, Hassan's supporters have suggested the whole issue be referred to the party's central committee, which has the power to decide whether the party's statutes need to be amended or not.

What is now needed, says Mohamed Abul- Ela, a Hassan supporter, is for the two camps to "put their differences aside for the sake of the party".