Veteran democrat to run for president
The Tagammu Party has announced that they will nominate Khaled Mohieddin for president -- if fair play is the name of the game. Fatemah Farag reports
Over 50 years ago, Khaled Mohieddin resigned from the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) following a confrontation with Gamal Abdel-Nasser and others in the RCC over whether the nascent Egyptian republic would pursue a democratic or an authoritarian political system. The latter obviously prevailed.
This week, the left-wing Tagammu Party announced that Mohieddin would be the party's candidate in the upcoming presidential election, provided that the government ensures a democratic framework for the poll. "The choice of Mohieddin is apt, as it brings the [Free] Officers Revolution full circle, back to that point in time when they could have gone either way," said Sayed Abdel-Aal, a senior Tagammu Party member. "This [democracy] has been his life's battle. The opportunity to take this step further just came a few decades late."
Commenting on the nomination, Medhat El-Zahed, editor-in-chief of Al-Tagammu, a newspaper issued by the party, told Al- Ahram Weekly that, "Mohieddin commands the respect and trust of a large section of people. People know him for his position in 1954 regarding democracy, the fact that he is the only prominent political figure we know of to voluntarily resign two political posts [in 1954, and a few years ago as leader of the Tagammu Party]; his stance against the execution of Mustafa Khamis and Mohamed El-Baqari [two workers sentenced to death by a military tribunal in 1952 for their role in the Kafr Al-Dawar strike] is also among his many other principled positions."
The decision was made during a meeting of the party's politburo last Sunday. "We were discussing the issue of presidential elections, and some people brought up the statements made by Khaled on Dream TV a week ago to the effect that he would be willing to nominate himself for president if the party wanted him to," recounted Hussein Abdel-Razeq, the party's secretary-general. "We decided then and there that he was the right choice for the party -- but we will only nominate him officially if we feel that the elections will be free and honest."
These stipulations, according to Abdel-Razeq, include the revocation of emergency law, the formation of a judicial committee to oversee electoral procedures, the granting of equal time on official media for political parties, as well as the right to hold electoral rallies without prior Interior Ministry approval.
Abdel-Aal admitted that the chances of the government giving in to these demands are minimal; at the same time, "we are not willing to turn ourselves into a stage prop in sham elections," he said.
For his part, Abdel-Razeq suggested that political parties were duty bound to continue to pressure and argue for what they recognise as necessary.
According to El-Zahed, now that the door to reform has opened, the Tagammu could not afford to observe the fray from the sidelines, especially in light of the Wafd Party's announcing its nominee -- party head Noman Gomaa.
The next step, says Abdel-Razeq, will be to call for a street political rally to be held on 12 May in front of the party's downtown offices "to see what happens. It is possible that if all goes well, we will take the opportunity to formally announce our choice of Khaled [as presidential nominee]."
Mohieddin, who is 82 years old, briefly retired from political life after his resignation from the RCC; he came back onto the scene, following a reconciliation with Abdel-Nasser, to head Al-Messa newspaper. He headed the Tagammu Party upon its establishment in 1976. He has represented his home village of Kafr Shukr in parliament since 1990. In January 2004, at the age of 81 he decided to step down as party leader, to be replaced by current Tagammu Chairman Rifaat El-Said.
"Of course we did take into consideration that while Khaled is a historic figure, he is also 82," said Abdel Razeq. "However, he is a man whose personal history embodies the struggle for democracy in this country. And we have all seen him in action; when he gets active in elections, he has the energy of a young man."
And while the party does not seriously contemplate winning the presidential elections, senior members argue that they have the ability to put up a good fight. According to El-Zahed, "things are heating up, and people are being drawn into a more active environment -- judges, lawyers, workers: this is a new moment in our political history, and the Left can be an influential part of it, if we work at it."
All political parties, he argued, including even the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) -- without state support -- are in positions of relative weakness. "This somewhat equalises everyone's chances, and besides, the Tagammu has successfully, since December 2004, organised six demonstrations in front of parliament, as well as other events," he said.
"The Tagammu should not be underestimated in terms of organisational power," said Abdel-Aal. "We have a strong network throughout the countries provinces. We would face difficulties, of course, in keeping up with the financial requirements of such a campaign. And time is also tight. If we decide to go ahead, we may find that we simply do not have enough time to get things going."
At the end of the day, the party believes, it is the content of their campaign that will stand out. "Without a doubt, it is our combining of political/civil rights, and the one hand, and economic/social rights on the other, that makes us different, and will make our campaign stand out," El-Zahed said.
"At this point in time, as the state races towards more and more privatisation, and a majority of people increasingly suffer from poverty, our campaign will focus on labour issues, and empowering the people, including the dispossessed, democratic decision-making, as well as the basic human rights people should have -- such as the right to food, home, and health. In short, this perspective is the core of the Left."
Caption: Mohieddin
C a p t i o n 2: Mohieddin
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/740/eg4.htm