Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 248 23 - 29 November 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Liberals speak in tongues

Mustafa Bakri

Dismissed by political analysts as a party with contradictory policies and no coherent ideology, the Liberal Party, led by Mustafa Kamel Murad, came into existence in 1976 on the authority of a decree from then President Anwar El-Sadat. With little, if any, grassroots support, Sadat envisaged the party as what could best be described as a loyalist opposition group.

Murad did not disappoint Sadat. Supporting his peace overtures to Israel, Murad accompanied Sadat on his 1977 trip to Jerusalem. He also backed his economic open door policy.

The Liberals first appeared on the political scene in 1975 as the "right wing" or forum of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU), then the nation' sole political party. When Sadat ordered the dissolution of the ASU and a switch to the multi-party system the following year, the Liberals became a fully-fledged political party along with the two other wings of the ASU, the leftist Tagammu and the Arab Socialist Misr Party.

The Liberals managed to win 23 parliamentary seats in the first multi-party elections held in the same year, earning Murad the title of opposition leader. But in 1978, the party relinquished its opposition role and forged a coalition with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). As a result, its presence in parliament was reduced to three seats in the 1979 elections. The coalition had to be dissolved.

In the 1984 elections, the Liberals failed to win a single seat. Murad's unwavering support for Sadat's policies had led to a decline in the party's popularity, and the recently re-emerged Wafd Party was seen as better qualified to act as the representative of the liberal trend in the country. In addition, the 1984 elections were the first to use the slate system, and its legal proviso that a party must garner eight per cent of the national vote to gain a foothold in the Assembly left the Liberals with little chance of parliamentary representation.

Facing what appeared to be a dead end, Murad opened the party's doors to Islamists who were seeking an officially recognised forum for their political activity. This resulted in a complete reversal of the party's policies. It backtracked on its support of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel and, ignoring its supposedly liberal ideology, even advocated the establishment of an Islamic state.

Murad went further in 1987, forging a coalition with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and Ibrahim Shukri's Labour Party. This caused a split in Liberal ranks, with many members leaving the party. In elections held that year, the Liberals won five out of the Assembly's 448 contested seats.

Along with opposition parties, with the exception of Tagammu, the Liberals boycotted the 1990 elections. It is now believed that the coalition with Labour and the Brotherhood has been disbanded, although the three groups are said to have pledged not to run against each other for the same parliamentary seats.

The Liberal Party has nominated 102 candidates in 75 constituencies for this month's elections. They include Sheikh Ragab Hemeida, the party's secretary-general, who is running the Cairo constituency of Abdin. Mustafa Bakri, the party's deputy chairman and editor of its daily newspaper Al-Ahrar, is running in the industrial suburb of Helwan, south of Cairo.

Platform

In another reversal of policy, and what appears to be an attempt to revive a liberal image, the slogan "Islam is the solution", used in 1987, has been dropped from the party's platform for these elections.

There is little to distinguish the Liberals' programme from that of other opposition parties, particularly the Wafd. It urges the abolition of the emergency law and the removal of restrictions on the formation of political parties and the publication of new newspapers. It calls for the election of the President of the Republic and his vice-president by direct ballot. At present, the president is nominated by the People's Assembly and the nomination is then submitted to the people in a nationwide yes-or-no referendum.

The platform also demands greater powers for the People's Assembly, including the right to withdraw confidence from the government and modify the state budget.

Funding

The party's apparently inexhaustible financial resources have long remained a mystery. The party has 19 publications and pays over LE8,000 in monthly rent for its Cairo headquarters, plus unknown amounts for 40 branch offices.

Murad recently filed a complaint with prosecution authorities against Rose El-Youssef magazine for printing the picture of a cheque for $50,000 which Murad allegedly received from Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. Murad claimed the picture was a forgery but the magazine's editor-in-chief, Mahmoud El-Tohami, insisted that it is 100 per cent authentic.

According to party officials, the party's LE4 million annual expenditure is covered by donations and members' subscriptions, as well as the LE100,000 subsidy the Shura Council pays each political party.

Membership

Murad estimates that the number of registered, fee-paying members amounts to 50,000.

Mouthpiece(s)

Experts believes that the policies of the party and its official mouthpiece, Al-Ahrar, are at variance. Al-Ahrar, which made its debut in November 1977 as a weekly, was the first opposition newspaper to appear following the switch to the multi-party system. Since April 1994, the newspaper has appeared on a daily basis - a feat which has raised many questions, owing to the newspaper's limited circulation as a weekly and its precarious financial situation.

According to its editor, Mustafa Bakri, the party made a donation of LE1.3 million to the newspaper when it became a daily, on the condition that it maintained financial independence afterwards. However, Bakri acknowledges that the newspaper is currently facing financial problems, and staff salaries are three months in arrears.

Curiously, Bakri was a member of the political bureau of the Nasserist Democratic Party before his appointment as Al-Ahrar's editor-in-chief. This may explain the divergence between the party line and the newspaper's editorial policy. According to Bakri, the newspaper "advocates Arab unity and opposes the expansion of Zionist influence in the region. Our newspaper is also keen on exposing cases of corruption and defending the rights of workers and the deprived classes."

Awatef Abdel-Rahman, a professor of journalism at Cairo University agrees that there are fundamental differences between editorial and party policy. "The newspaper seems to reflect the political views of its editorial board, rather than those of party leaders," she said. "For example, the newspaper opposes normalisation of relations with Israel, while the party does not seem to take a decisive stand on the issue." As a result, Abdel-Rahman believes, the newspaper stands to lose its credibility, sooner or later.

In addition to Al-Ahrar, the party has 18 other publications, including the Islamist Al-Haqiqa (Truth) and Al-Nour (Light). Despite denials by party officials, rumours have persisted that the party "sublets" these publications to other political groups.

Assessment

Political experts are in agreement that the party has no consistent policy, little grassroots support and, consequently, no future. Mustafa El-Sayed, a professor of political science at Cairo University, says the party, which was supposed to lead the opposition in the late 1970s, in fact never seriously opposed any of Sadat's policies.

The Liberals' original platform, which advocated peace with Israel, ran counter to the Islamist stance adopted after its 1987 alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Labour Party.

"These contradictory positions have convinced the public that the party has no specific character and no consistent policy on any issue," said El-Sayed. "So it's no wonder that it has failed to secure an effective presence on the political scene.

"And despite the party's unexplained sources of wealth, it is not expected that the Liberals will have a future."

Diaa Rashwan of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies agreed. The party, he said, "lacks a coherent ideology", a fact he sees reflected in its numerous publications, each expressing the views of a different political trend. According to Rashwan, the term "liberal" could no longer be applied to the Liberal Party after the formation of the 1987 tripartite alliance. "I don't think this party will be able to survive," he added.

"The party has nothing to offer except a daily newspaper whose policy has nothing to do with the party's ideology, and which usually changes when the editor-in-chief changes," said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University. "A party like this, which has no distinctive political character and which does not represent a certain social class, should not be expected to last. Its presence on the political scene is meaningless."

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