Gamal Essam El-Din reports on moves to build a consensus behind President Mubarak's call for constitutional amendments The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) mobilised this week in support of President Hosni Mubarak's 26 December call to amend 34 articles in the constitution. In the People's Assembly and Shura Council the party's Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif rallied NDP MPs to rubber-stamp the amendments and urged the chairmen of provincial party offices to lead a campaign in favour of them. On 4 January El-Sherif met more than 100 leading NDP members ahead of a campaign that will aim to promote the amendments. El-Sherif said NDP provincial leaders will draw on a paper already prepared by the party's Policies Committee in explaining to ordinary citizens the significance of the amendments in improving living conditions as well as Egypt's political and economic prospects. Information Minister Anas El-Fiqi has indicated that state-run television channels and radio stations will join forces with the NDP, running interviews with leading politicians and members of civil society who will encourage voters to endorse the amendments in a referendum expected to be held early in April. In a press conference on 27 December El-Sherif said the amendment of 34 articles was not an issue in itself. "The main significance of these proposed amendments," he argued, "is that they will have a deep political, social and economic impact for many years to come," adding that the amendments give greater powers to the People's Assembly in supervising the government as well as imposing "a formal ban on parties based on religion". The judicial supervision of elections, he continued, has to be revised in light of the growing number of voters and limited number of judges. Despite El-Sherif's efforts a number of NDP MPs have expressed doubts over the wisdom of some of the proposals, pointing out that the amendments will allow the president to dissolve parliament without first placing the decision before the public in the form of a referendum. El-Sherif, in response, said the clause had been included to balance another amendment that will empower parliament to withdraw confidence in the government, also without referring the matter to a referendum. Some NDP MPs also criticise moves to change the current individual candidacy system into one based on slates. The slate system, says NDP MP Mohamed Abdel-Fattah Omar, which obliges candidates to run on a single ticket, will place NDP MPs at the mercy of the party's leadership. "The individual candidacy system is flexible. Should the NDP refuse to nominate a certain member, the latter could still run as an independent," said Omar, "while under the slate system the candidate would have little if any chance to run should the party refuse to nominate him. The only available option in such a case would be for the rejected candidate to join another party and run on its ticket." Other NDP MPs agree with the opposition that eliminating full judicial supervision of elections opens the door to vote rigging practices. In 2006 the Shura Council reported that 59.5 per cent of MPs were in favour of maintaining full judicial supervision, i.e. "a judge for every voting box". NDP insiders say the party's campaign to rally the public behind Mubarak's amendments represents a counter-attack against Muslim Brotherhood. The Brothers have been at the forefront of opposition groups attacking the amendments. In a press conference on 27 December, five leading members of the Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc denounced the amendments as "a throwback to the age of full tyranny". Brotherhood MPs argue that imposing a formal ban on parties based on religion constitutes an attempt to eliminate them from political life. "The group is ready to form a party with an Islamic background," says Abu Baraka, a Brotherhood MP. But, he adds, "we know that this party would never be allowed because the NDP insists on monopolising political life". Brotherhood MPs also agree that the re-drafting of articles 62 and 94 to make a switch to the slate system will curtail the growing influence of independents. Although NDP officials have publicly stated that civil society groups will have an input in the drafting of amendments, the latter remain sceptical that they will have any effective say in the changes. Hafez Abu Se'ida, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), told Al-Ahram Weekly that his great worry is that the NDP will steamroll the amendments it wants. "The experience of last year, when Article 76 was changed, suggests the NDP is unwilling to listen to civil society demands for constitutional and political reform," says Abu Se'ida, who believes the amendments have already been finalised and that any "discussions with civil society organisations and opposition parties will just be a smokescreen." Mubarak's proposed amendments have been criticised most forcefully by independent political analysts and experts in constitutional law. They have united to label them as "undemocratic and aimed at reinforcing one-man rule". Mohamed El-Sayed Said, an analyst with Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told the Weekly that the proposed changes aim to achieve three objectives: to curtail the growing influence of the Muslim Brothers in political life, reinforce the despotic powers of one-man rule and accelerate the pace of privatisation and economic liberal policies, while Mubarak's continued rejection of any amendment to Article 77 or to make the appointment of a vice-president obligatory can only contribute to speculation over the inheritance of power. On Monday, Mubarak told the Middle East News Agency (MENA) that any decision to amend Article 77 should be left to the public. "The sovereign decision to restrict the president to two terms in office can only be left to the people," said Mubarak, who went on to point out that very few national constitutions have actually opted to do so.
