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Al-Ahram Weekly Archives 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly Archives
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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The 1995 parliamentary elections
As part of its extensive coverage of the 1995 November parliamentary elections, Al-Ahram Weekly published a series of profiles of the nation's political parties. The history, platforms, mouthpieces and role of the key players on the partisan political scene are reviewed below in eight installments.
The results of
Al-Ahram Weekly poll
conducted prior to the last parliamentary elections
National Democratic Party Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 242
12 - 18 October 1995Born at the centre
Egypt's political parties are bracing themselves for November's parliamentary elections. This week, Al-Ahram Weekly launches a series reviewing the history and platforms of the major contenders in the forthcoming elections. The first instalment, compiled by Gamal Essam El-Din and Nevine Khalil, deals with the ruling National Democratic PartyDetermined to win
Kamal El-Shazli is a veteran politician who has occupied a parliamentary seat for a record period - from 1964 until the present. During this time, he has been a leading member of all ruling political parties in succession. In the late 1960s, he was chosen to serve as the local secretary-general of the Arab Socialist Union - then the nation's sole political party - in the Governorate of Menoufiya. --read interview--Reacting to the opposition
The ruling party's official weekly mouthpiece, Mayo, has been trying to meet the challenge of a highly vocal opposition pressNot all leading NDP members are government ministers. Below, the Weekly profiles three of the party's parliamentary movers
For women and ecology
Parliamentary diplomat
Contentious legislatorIndependent political experts, interviewed by the Weekly, assess NDP performance, and come up with diverse conclusions
A government body
A strong social base
One-party mentality
Wafd Party Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 243
19 - 25 October 1995Under the liberal banner
In the second installment of Al-Ahram Weekly's series on political parties contesting the parliamentary elections, officially set for 29 November, Shaden Shehab reviews the history and platform of the Wafd Party, interviews its secretary-general and profiles some of its prominent figures
Immutable principles
Saad Fakhri Abdel-Nour, a Copt, is Secretary-general of the Wafd Party. From a wealthy Wafdist family, he was named after Saad Zaghloul, leader of the Wafd and the 1919 Revolution, and is himself a long-standing member of the party. Abdel-Nour, 74, obtained a law degree in 1943 from King Fouad University, now Cairo University, and then traveled to France for post-graduate studies. --read interview--Front page opposition
As a daily, Al-Wafd enjoys a unique status among the country's party press, but according to critics there is little to the newspaper beyond its front pageWafd secretary-general on the eve of the July '52, Fouad Serageddin lived to lead the party's revival. No'man Goma'a is his likely successor
The Pasha
The DeanIndependent analysts, interviewed by the Weekly, say the Wafd has to let go of old scores , if it is to realise its potential as the party of liberalism
Honourable past
Nostalgic living
Unadaptive mechanisms
Labour Party Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 244
26 October - 1 November 1995Catching the Islamist train
Continuing a series on the political parties contesting the November general elections, Amira Howeidy traces the roots of the Labour Party, chronicles its switch to an Islamist ideology, interviews its leader, Ibrahim Shukri, and sounds out political experts on the party's performanceIslamism's melting pot
Labour Party leader Ibrahim Shukri, 79, is a veteran political and activist with a long history of struggle against the British, Israel and the monarchy in pre-1952 Egypt. A leading figure in a student uprising against the British occupation in 1935, he was shot and wounded by the occupation forces. --read interview--Opposition blaster
The Labour party's mouthpiece, Al-Shaab, is recognised as the country's most fiery opposition paper - a distinction that has often brought its editors and writers before state prosecutorsTheir Young Egypt origins notwithstanding, Murad and Hussein arrived at Labour's Islamism via highly different routes - liberalism and communism
The minister who said no
Farewell to MarxWas Labour's transition to Islamism a natural progression, or a reflection of its hybrid origins. Independent analysts offer various explanations
Old but also new
In the Brothers' boots
Politics of ambivalence
Tagammu Party Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 245
2 - 8 November 1995Realism on the left
In the fourth instalment of a series on the political parties contesting the November elections, Khaled Dawoud and Nermeen El-Nawawi review the history of the leftist Tagammu Party, interview its leader Khaled Mohieddin and seek the views of experts on the party's performanceSeeking a new style
Dubbed "the red major" by the Western press, Khaled Moheiddin was a leading member of the Free Officers Movement that overthrew the monarchy in July 1952. After the downfall of king Farouk, Moheiddin became a member of a 12-man Revolution Command Council that was established to run state affairs and steer the transition to a new republican regime. --read interview--Firebrand tamed
Banned repeatedly and then shut down by President Sadat for fiercely opposing his policies, Al-Ahali has toned down its criticism of the government. Critics say it lost a large section of its readership as a resultAbdallah may have elaborated the concept of Tagammu, as a broad coalition of the left, but it was El-Said who oversaw its implementation
The theorist
The organiserIndependent analysts, interviewed by the Weekly, praised Tagammu's scholarly and cultural resources, but had little to say about its mass appeal
Unorganically intellectual
Cultural impact
Developmental flaws
Nasserist Arab Socialist Party Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 246
9 - 15 November 1995Nasserism, 90s style
In a continuing series of the political parties that will contest the approaching general elections, Amira Ibrahim and Jailan Halawi review the Nasserists' efforts to establish their own party, analyse divisions in party ranks, interview its leader Diaeddin Dawoud and sound out experts on the party's performanceMessage from the past - updated
Diaeddin Dawoud, leader of the Arab Democratic Nasserist Party, began to legal practice after graduating from Cairo University's Faculty of Law in 1949. He was elected a member of the People's Assembly in 1964 and, four years later, was appointed as minister of social affairs in a cabinet headed by President Gamal Abdel-Nasser. --read interview--Capital perspectives
Barely two years old, the Nasserists' mouth-piece, the weekly Al-Arabi, is Egypt's youngest opposition newspaper. Now appearing on a twice-weekly basis in the run-up to the forthcoming elections, the newspaper had a modest start, employing a group of young reporters, some of them part-timers, and others who were Nasserists with no previous journalistic experience. --read on--The Nasserist old guard is divided between militants and moderates. Neither seems to appeal to "the 70s generation"
Orthodoxy with twist
A touch of moderation
The graduateIndependent analysts, interviewed by the Weekly, find Nasserists, like their arch-foes the Wafdists, steeped in nostalgia
Unfinished business
Packaged nostalgia
Desperately seeking Nasser
Muslim Brotherhood Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 247
16 - 22 November 1995
Politics in God's name
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood has no legal sanction as a political party, and yet it is a major contender in this month's elections. Amira Howeidy reviews its history and repeated confrontations with successive governments, interviews Mustafa Mashhour, one of its leaders, and invites political experts to assess its performanceSoldiers of the shari'a
The official title of Mustafa Mashhour, 74, is deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood. But Mashhour, described as a hawk, is the group's real leader because Supreme Guide Hamid Abul-Nasr is in poor health.
Mashhour joined the Brotherhood at the young age of 17 in 1938. After obtaining a science degree in 1943, he worked for the Meteorological Department. He was arrested in 1948 and detained for three years for his involvement in what was known at the time as the "jeep case" - the seizure by police of a jeepload of firearms allegedly belonging to the Brotherhood. --read interview--Abul-Nasr and El-Hodeibi are said to be doves. But many doubt they carry much weight within the organisation
Vacant guidance
Officially speakingIndependent analysts, interviewed by the Weekly, were impressed by the Brotherhood's performance, doubtful about its intentions
Expedient democracy?
Can democracy be learnt?
Thoroughly modern
Liberal Party Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 248
23 - 29 November 1995Liberals speak in tongues
In the last of a series on the political parties contesting this month's parliamentary elections, Mona El-Nahhas profiles the Liberal Party and interviews its leader, Mustafa Kamel MuradFree for all
Liberal Party leader Mustafa Kamel Murad, 68, graduated from the Military Academy and fought in the 1948 Palestine war shortly afterwards winning military decorations for valour. He was a junior member of the Free Officers Movement that overthrew the monarchy in 1952, took part in the Suez War of 1956, and obtained a masters degree in political science from Cairo University the following year. --read interview--
Small fry by the half dozen
The spice of the nation's political life, or a somewhat ridiculous manifestation of the difficult transition from one-party rule to multi-party democracy? Rana Allam winds up the series with a look at the small partiesAl-Umma [Nation] party
Al-Takaful Party
Green Party
Misr Arab Socialist Party
Misr Al-Fatah (Young Egypt) Party
Unionist Democratic Party
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