Calls to boycott parliamentary and presidential elections seek to embarass the ruling NDP, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Mohamed El-Baradei will visit the Mediterranean city of Alexandria tomorrow in a bid to advance the political and constitutional reform agenda of the National Assembly of Change (NAC). El-Baradei, who celebrated his 68th birthday on 18 June, said the visit was also intended to show solidarity with the family of Khaled Said, the 28-year-old who was allegedly beaten to death by undercover policemen two weeks ago. El-Baradei disclosed that he "will join a silent collective stand in Alexandria in commemoration of martyrs tortured to death at the hands of the security forces". In a meeting with university students and NAC representatives on 18 June, El-Baradei launched a scathing attack against Interior Ministry for "the proliferation of torture in Egypt". "It is public pressure that compelled security and prosecution authorities to open a new investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Khaled Said," said El-Baradei. "And it is only public pressure that will allow Egyptians to recover their rights from the ruling regime." El-Baradei urged opposition parties and political forces to boycott October's People's Assembly elections and the presidential election scheduled in 2011. "In this way," he said, "we will be able to isolate the ruling National Democratic Party [NDP], strip it of any legitimacy and expose it as the single party that dominates political life in the same way the old Socialist Union did in the 1960s." "The boycott call should go hand in hand with NAC plans to collect signatures from ordinary citizens in support of its seven-article manifesto of change." El-Baradei lashed out at opposition parties, arguing that "they lack political vision, place personal interests above national goals and toe the NDP's line." "As long as these opposition parties accept less than a third of parliamentary seats they remain decor for the regime." El-Baradei said that he remains optimistic that the NAC will be able to collect 20 million signatures in support of its manifesto. "Our success in collecting this good number of signatures could put an end to the ruling regime in three days," asserted El-Baradei. "I know that 99 per cent of the Egyptians sympathise with my campaign for change," El-Baradei told a meeting of women activists on 19 June. "There is an urgent need for collective action. The regime, after all, cannot detain millions of its own citizens." Recent differences between El-Baradei and leading members of the NAC have sometimes overshadowed the campaign for change. Some members, such as NAC spokesman Hassan Nafaa, have criticised El-Baradei for his prolonged absences from Egypt. Others, such as Nasserist Hamdi Qandil, disapprove of El-Baradei's new rapprochement with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. "Any disagreements with NAC members concern tactics not goals," said El-Baradei. "Some of them want me to go on the street and lead demonstrations. I cannot go on a demonstration including just 50 people, but if I was sure that 30,000 demonstrators will join me I would take to the streets at once." Nafaa told a press conference on 18 June that NAC members support El-Baradei's call for boycotting the elections and believe the "opposition must close ranks and join forces." According to Nafaa current NAC strategy is three pronged. "The first phase -- lasting six weeks -- will include staging streets protests, especially in front of the Shura Council building in downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square, to denounce NDP rigging of the elections of 1 June." There would also be greater cooperation with professional syndicates to disseminate the NAC's manifesto. A second stage of action, also lasting ix weeks, "will focus on discussing El-Baradei's boycott call". The third stage will follow October's People's Assembly elections. "Our tactics towards next year's presidential elections will be determined in the light of what happens with the People's Assembly poll," said Nafaa. Answering a question about the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in NAC strategy, Nafaa argued that "change can never be secured without the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Muslim Brotherhood will never be able to secure change alone". Hamdi Qandil has expressed doubts that the Muslim Brotherhood will respond positively to El-Baradei's boycott call. "Although the results of Shura Council elections show that the ruling NDP is determined to isolate the Brotherhood from political and parliamentary life, its leaders still prefer to act independently of other opposition forces. Brotherhood leaders hope that the regime will reward them with some seats in parliament in return for refusing to heed El-Baradei's calls for a boycott." Ammar Ali Hassan, a political analyst with the Middle East News Agency (MENA), told Al-Ahram Weekly that El-Baradei's boycott call has little chance of succeeding. "Opposition forces have tried boycotting parliamentary elections before only to lose out in the end," said Hassan. "El-Baradei's boycott call will only help the ruling NDP to tighten its grip on power and dominate the next parliament." On Tuesday, the NDP-dominated People's Assembly refused to discuss a Muslim Brotherhood request to amend the 1956 law on the exercise of political rights. Brotherhood MP Mohamed El-Beltagui said, "the proposed law reflects the joint view of all political forces, aiming to reinstitute full judicial supervision of next October's parliamentary election and ensure that it is free and fair."
