speaks to Gamal Essam El-Din about the ruling party, parliamentary elections, the growing role of Gamal Mubarak and attempts by American politicians to impose international monitors on the elections was appointed minister of state for parliamentary and legal affairs at the end of 2005. A few months later, in February 2006, he was also made the ruling National Democratic Party's assistant secretary-general for parliamentary affairs. Shehab has enjoyed a long and varied academic, political and diplomatic career. He was a very efficient member in Egypt's negotiating team that successfully secured the return of Taba from Israel in 1984. President Hosni Mubarak selected him to lead the Egyptian delegation to the 2008 Arab summit in Damascus and the 2009 Arab summit in Doha, Qatar. He will be standing as the National Democratic Party's (NDP) candidate in the Moharrem Bey district of Alexandria. Why did you decide to contest the parliamentary elections this year? It was a big surprise to many. I have been an appointed member of the upper consultative house of the Shura Council since 1989 and my membership was renewed by President Hosni Mubarak last June for another six years. But I wanted to be an elected member of the People's Assembly. Before parliament I have hitherto been an appointed member of the council and a cabinet minister in charge of responding to the questions of deputies. These are official roles. But the time has come for me to represent real constituents, the citizens of Alexandria's Moharrem Bey district where I was born and who I want to serve. It has been suggested that President Hosni Mubarak asked you to register your name as an NDP candidate as a step towards becoming the new speaker of the People's Assembly. My decision to stand in the upcoming parliamentary elections was made out of personal conviction. I have no ambition to be speaker of the People's Assembly and nobody can predict who will be the speaker or leaders of committees. He clearly stated that cabinet ministers who want to register as NDP candidates should be allowed to do so but stipulated that they would not enjoy any privileged treatment with regards to the party's three-stage selection process. How do you assess the performance of the ruling NDP over the last decade? The ruling party has undergone a number of changes. They include internal regulations and membership. There has been a process of internal democratisation. Now most of the party's leading members, including the chairman, are elected. The party has also devised 'a new style of thinking' that has attracted many young people, injecting new blood in its ranks. How do you see the growing role of Gamal Mubarak? Gamal Mubarak is playing an important role as chairman of the party's Policies Committee, which is charged with upgrading the party's platform and devising new policies. This has created a new political dynamism in the country and helped open up horizons for expression. It has been suggested that the growing role of Gamal Mubarak has created an unhealthy marriage between business and power in both the NDP's senior ranks and in government. All citizens, businessmen included, should enjoy equal political rights. We should not take a position against businessmen simply because they are businessmen. If they have something to offer society and government they should be free to do so. Businessmen and the private sector played the major role in modernising Europe and America and in recent years they have started to do the same in Egypt. The private sector now generates more than 70 per cent of GDP. With this growth has come a sense of social responsibility. There have been exceptions, of course, those who joined the NDP to pursue their own interests, and the party was the first to get rid of them and accept their referral to trial should any illegality be involved. The media, both inside and outside Egypt, endlessly speculate about Gamal Mubarak inheriting power from his father. This inheritance scenario is based on imagination rather than facts. President Mubarak and his son have refuted it on a number of occasions. The constitution is very clear about how power is transferred, and stipulates that anyone seeking to become president of Egypt must fulfill all conditions required by article 76 of the constitution. Stories constantly appear about a struggle for power within the NDP between the so-called old and new guards, the latter led by Gamal Mubarak. From my position in the party and in government I would stress that I have seen no evidence of a power struggle or clash of interests between the two camps. The party should not be held responsible for individuals leading a campaign for the nomination of Gamal Mubarak in the next presidential elections. What has actually happened is that the so-called old guard and new generation of the NDP complement one another. The old guard has extensive experience and the younger generation has brought new blood into the party. Both are beneficial. How do you see next month's parliamentary elections? We all hope that the elections will be characterised by integrity and transparency and that the resulting parliament will play its role in supervising the government and working to meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people. But many believe that in the absence of international monitors the upcoming election will be marred by vote rigging... We are against foreign monitoring of our elections. It is a form of interference in Egypt's internal affairs. We have said foreign embassies in Egypt can send representatives to observe the ballot, and the election process will be completely monitored by independent civil society organisations and the local and foreign media. The polls will be conducted under the full supervision of an independent judicial commission which has all the necessary powers to combat any fraud. What about last June's mid-term Shura Council elections? They were held under the supervision of an independent judicial commission yet many allege they were rigged. There were some election irregularities in the mid-term polls. We must ask ourselves who was responsible. They were the work of individuals rather than a systematic policy by the government or the ruling NDP. The ruling NDP refused to respond to opposition party demands to provide greater guarantees that the ballot box would be respected... The document issued by the NDP in response to these demands clearly stated that ensuring integrity of the polls is a shared responsibility that must be shouldered by the NDP, opposition parties, the Higher Election Commission (HEC) and even voters. The NDP has asked the HEC to exercise all its powers to ensure ballot boxes are not tampered with, to allow civil society organisations unhindered access to polling stations, and to treat any irregularities it uncovers quickly and efficiently. It has even called for citizens to be allowed to use their identity cards -- instead of voting cards -- at the polls. Many of the opposition's demands require debate, particularly those that seek to change the current election system. Rumours abound that the NDP has made a deal with legal opposition parties, and in return for not boycotting the elections they have been promised a greater number of seats at the expense of the Muslim Brotherhood. This story is based on imagination rather than fact. NDP leaders have said repeatedly that at no time in its 32 year-old-history has the party entered into a secret deal with the opposition. The upcoming election is no exception. The NDP is fielding candidates in all of Egypt's 222 districts and 32 women-only constituencies. We plan to win the majority of seats. We are not in the business of secret deals. But you have said that the Muslim Brotherhood will not be allowed to keep the number of seats they won in 2005... What I said was that I did not expect the Muslim Brotherhood to be able to win the same number of seats -- 88 -- that they did in 2005. There are many people who, like me, believe that in 2005 the Muslim Brotherhood won more seats than it deserved. It is an outlawed group that mixes religion with politics and it is a dangerous precedent for such a religious movement to secure so many seats in parliament. Many commentators argue that the Muslim Brotherhood's success in 2005 was because it attracted protest votes against the NDP and its government rather than voters actually endorsing the group's platform. What happened was that the opposition parties failed to field enough candidates in 2005. In terms of voters expressing dissatisfaction with the government, this was something the Muslim Brotherhood could capitalise on in the absence of other opposition candidates. This time things will be different. Most of the main opposition parties rejected calls to boycott the poll and are instead fielding impressive numbers of candidates. Look at the Wafd Party. Its new, democratically-elected leader, persuaded party members to vote for participation and it will field 176 candidates across 27 governorates. The Tagammu and the Nasserists are also fielding more candidates. It is against this backdrop -- of a greater opposition campaign presence -- that I expect the Muslim Brotherhood to be unable to hold onto, let alone consolidate, its earlier gains. Voters rally behind their favourite candidates in some of the heated constituencies
