Standing issues

Despite a more stringent selection process, the list of NDP parliamentary candidates is unlikely to contain many surprises, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

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NDP leaders during the party's annual conference last year

Septuagenarian old-guard politicians, cabinet ministers and business tycoons, have swamped the list of wannabe ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates for the upcoming People's Assembly election. When the registration process opened on 21 August, the list included the vast majority of the party's senior officials as well as business magnates who are members of the NDP secretariat-general and the powerful Policies Committee, led by Gamal Mubarak, the younger son of President Hosni Mubarak.

As expected, the list of septuagenarians included: Fathi Sorour, 78, speaker of the People's Assembly since 1990; Zakaria Azmi, 74, chief of President Hosni Mubarak's presidential staff, an NDP MP since 1978 and the party's assistant secretary-general since 2002; and Kamal El-Shazli, 76, a member of the NDP's political politburo who first became an MP in 1964. El-Shazli, who underwent surgery in the US last February, insists that he is in good health and ready to contest the elections in the Delta governorate of Menoufiya.

Seven cabinet ministers have also registered: existing MPs Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali; Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi; Minister of Military Production Sayed Mashaal, and four faces new to parliament, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab; Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Nasreddin Allam , Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin and Minister of State for International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga.

Shehab's candidacy was the biggest surprise. Shehab, 75, a member of the Shura Council since 1989, had his membership renewed for another six years by President Mubarak following June's mid-term Shura elections. In a telephone interview with Al-Ahram Weekly Shehab said he wanted to be the NDP's candidate in Alexandria's downtown district of Moharram Bey in order to "serve the people of the district where I was born".

"I respect my role in the Shura Council but I believe that I will be more capable of doing my job if I am both a cabinet minister and a member of the People's Assembly."

Shehab will be obliged under the constitution to resign from the Shura Council should he become a member of the People's Assembly.

Shehab's decision to register as a candidate fuelled rumours that he may replace Sorour as speaker of the People's Assembly. An expert on Egyptian domestic politics as well as international law, he was selected by President Mubarak to head Egypt's delegation to the Arab summits held in Syria in 2008 and Qatar in 2009.

"I seek to be a member of the People's Assembly in order to serve the people of my district. It is up to the political leadership to decide whether I remain a cabinet minister or be moved to another position," said Shehab. However, Shehab denied rumours that he will take the post of speaker of the People's Assembly.

Other cabinet ministers are also expected to register before the door on registration closes next Saturday. They include Minister of Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid; Minister of Labour and Immigration Aisha Abdel-Hadi, and Minister of Housing Ahmed El-Maghrabi.

According to NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif, NDP rules on selecting candidates will be applied stringently.

"Everyone will be subject to the party's three criteria in selecting candidates -- opinion polls, electoral colleges and internal elections," he said.

The NDP's decision to impose a registration fee of LE15,000 for those seeking to be representatives of professionals, and LE10,000 for representatives of workers and farmers, has discouraged many from registering.

"The registration fee should be considered as a donation to the party. It is intended to ensure that candidates are serious and will help defer campaign costs," says El-Sherif.

Topping the list of NDP business candidates are steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, NDP secretary for organisational affairs and chairman of the People's Assembly Budget Committee; Mohamed Abul-Enein, chairman of the Industry Committee; Tareq Talaat Mustafa, chairman of the Housing Committee and the brother of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, the former Shura Council NDP member who is facing trial on murder charges. Tareq surprised many by giving LE1 million to the party when he applied to be its candidate in the east Alexandria district of Sidi Gaber.

Other business tycoon candidates include ceramics mogul Mustafa El-Sallab, deputy chairman of parliament's Economic Committee, standing in Cairo's Nasr City; construction magnate Mohamed El-Morshidi, standing in Maadi; retail tycoon Talaat El-Qawwas in Cairo's Abdine district; tourism tycoon Khaled Khairi, standing in Alexandria's Attarin; industrialist Mahmoud Khamis in 10 Ramadan city and banker Abdel-Rahman Baraka.

Among the longstanding politicians who have registered are Hamdi El-Sayed, chairman of parliament's Health Committee and head of the Doctors' Syndicate; Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, NDP parliamentary spokesman, and Hussein Megawer, chairman of parliament's Labour Committee and head of the General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions (GFETU).

Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Hashem Rabie says the list of those seeking to be NDP candidates suggests that there will be little change in the hierarchy that has dominated the party since at least the 1990s. "Once again," says Rabie, "political influence will be divided among old-guard politicians and increasingly influential businessmen."

"While this reflects the current balance of power within NDP circles it acts against the possibility of change and injecting new blood in parliament."

Many members of the NDP have complained that the new rules governing the evaluation of potential candidates makes the process tough and costly.

"Those seeking to be party candidates will be required not only to donate large amounts of money, but also commit themselves to not running as independents should their nominations be rejected," said one NDP member speaking on condition of anonymity.

Until the Weekly went to press, the number of candidates registering was less than 1,000, far fewer than the 5,000 that had been anticipated.

Ahmed Ezz has said all candidates will face a tough evaluation.

"They will have to go through three stages before being selected by the party: opinion polls, electoral colleges and internal elections."

He adds that 600,000 people will be polled, including party members and the general public, in an attempt to gauge the popularity and reputation of every candidate.

"This stage will be followed by the meeting of electoral colleges at the beginning of September, and then by internal elections at the end of the month," said Ezz. "More than two million NDP members will participate in the internal elections."

Ezz also indicated that the NDP's annual conference, scheduled for 9-10 November, will be devoted to discussing the party's election campaign.

People's Assembly elections will be held in the last week of November, with the run-off stage scheduled for the first week of December.