Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 242 12 - 18 October 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

A government body

I do not believe that the National Democratic Party (NDP) is an independent entity. Since it did not come to power through the ballot box but was created by presidential decree, it is rather an extension of the government body. It did not crystallise around an ideology or line of thought and therefore does not constitute a party created and and elected by the country's citizens. It is just a group of people whose lifeline comes from government influence and backing. The NDP is more about the government, self-interest and privileges than about representation of the people.

The NDP has not left an impression on the political arena, is deficient in political leaders and lacks true popular backing. The party does not provide public services such as eradicating illiteracy, providing family planning or medical care. Even during natural disasters, other political parties were more active than the NDP.

Because of its dependence on the government's resources and backing, the NDP has not produced any political leaders - none that people feel are charismatic, good orators or natural leaders. There may be many professional cadres within the party, but none has the ability to lead the people, and none has tried. The only way NDP candidates can build an electoral base is through the use of government resources - granting favours to influential members of society, who in turn rally the voters behind them.

Even when NDP candidates win elections, it is not known whether they won because of NDP, or government, popularity, since there is no defining line between the two.

To gain legitimacy and credibility as a political party, the NDP should cease to be chaired by the president of the republic. Then the privileges the NDP receives from the government and the resources which are at its disposal would be eliminated, forcing it to compete on an equal footing with the other parties.

Hassan Nafaa
Political Science Professor Cairo University

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A strong social base

I disagree with those who say that if we had greater voter participation and fair elections, the NDP would lose. These are people who do not know Egypt's social and political map. The NDP would win no less than half the votes because of the electoral weight it carries through a lobby of influential families. In that respect, the NDP stands on a strong social base, especially in the countryside.

The NDP is the institutional embodiment of the governing elite which has ruled Egypt since 1952, the child of Egypt's revolutionary political heritage. It is an extension of the past regimes and one finds that cadres in the NDP have at one point served on the Liberation Committee, the National Union and the Arab Socialist Union.

The NDP is merged to a great extent with the central government on the national, ministerial, provincial and local levels. So much so that the NDP sometimes appears to be the government, and indeed, the government takes on the guise of the party during elections.

The party's fatal flaw is its inability to renew itself. It does not develop and advance itself or generate new faces. Even when new, young faces appear in the NDP arena, their mentality is similar to that of the older generation, hence there is no improvement.

Nonetheless, this is true of all parties, not just the NDP. Political parties in Egypt are alike in their weaknesses and deficiencies despite their ideological differences.

When all is said, I believe it is more important that the country advances, even if it's at the expense of complete democracy. This is most relevant at a time like the present when public opinion and opposition parties in Egypt are weak.

Osama El-Ghazali Harb
Editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram's Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya [International Politics]

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One-party mentality

The NDP must disconnect itself from the government and restructive itself to become more independent and self-reliant. The main problem with the NDP is that it thrives on the mentality of the one-party system, which in turn affects its performance in Egyptian political life. This is due to the integration of the NDP and the government.

For example, in a multi-party system, local government should be independent, but here the majority of governors are in fact an arm of the NDP's mechanism, especially during election campaigns. Governorate facilities are used for the benefit of NDP candidates. The party's dependence on outside help does not encourage it to develop and improve its performance in politics.

When the majority party conducts itself in this manner, it results in stagnation, and the more dependent the NDP is, the more static political life becomes.

During this year's election campaign all parties will focus on local interests and their own interests. This trend was set by the NDP in 1990 when the major opposition parties boycotted the elections, and now they are forced to play by NDP-imposed rules, unable to alter or challenge them.

In general elections, prominence should be given to an overall political agenda, but the NDP's structure, mechanism and style champion provincial politics. When general elections are conducted on such a local level, the chances for democratic development are obliterated. Neither the NDP nor opposition parties are working to bring about this development. The NDP is satisfied with the benefits it receives from governmental bodies and the opposition does not understand that change has to be gradual.

Wahid Abdel-Meguid
Expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies

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