After two decades of failing support, can the Tagammu reverse its slide into irrelevance, asks Mona El-Nahhas Its popularity may have waned but the Tagammu still survives, not least because the government is keen to keep the party alive. It is in the interest of the ruling regime to have a large number of opposition parties, argue many commentators. They lend Egypt's multi-party system a kind of credibility. It often seems enough for party leaders to hold on to their posts, to retain their party headquarters and receive the annual grant to which officially licensed parties are entitled. Connecting with the public is a secondary consideration: in one way or another party leaders work with the state. Should they be overly critical of the government they know what the results will be. Their party will be frozen, or else it will disintegrate in fomented internal divisions. They are lessons the Tagammu learned under president Anwar El-Sadat, when it played the role of radical opposition to the regime. Since the early 1990s, the party has avoided direct clashes with the regime. Step by step, starting from 2003 when Rifaat El-Said succeeded the party's historical leader Khaled Mohieddin as chair of the party, "the Tagammu has turned into a branch of the ruling regime" in the words of Al-Ahram's senior political analyst Hassan Abu Taleb. Voices within the party have been raised demanding it halt its courtship of the regime and focus instead on the struggle to protect the interests of those on low incomes, but they have been ignored. Those who have demanded the party halt its unceasing criticisms of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), arguing that they serve only to reinforce the impression that the party is flirting with the regime, that instead of attacking the MB the Tagammu should compete with the politically influential group and take a leaf out of the outlawed movement's own book, strengthening itself and re-building its cadres, have also been marginalised. Calls to reform the party have been repeatedly ignored. And as the situation has moved from bad to worse, membership of the party has shrunk. Many leading party members have quit the party, and the public, if it pays any attention at all, looks on bemused. Despite its declining fortunes the Tagammu was determined to take part in November's parliamentary poll, grabbing what it sees as an opportunity to halt the slide into political irrelevance. Political analysts argue that by allowing greater opposition representation -- at the expense of the Muslim Brotherhood -- the government is seeking to legitimise the election results and undermine claims that the ballot is rigged. It is a dynamic from which the Tagammu hopes to benefit. But if it does, say many commentators, it will only serve to confirm that the party is no longer a serious political player, since the regime is interested only in furthering ineffective opposition figures. Whether effective or non-effective, Tagammu members finding their way to parliament remains a moot point. But it is not greater parliamentary representation that the Tagammu most needs, says Abu Taleb, but a radical overhaul of its ideology and structures. "The party has steadily been losing public support for two decades," he argues. If it is to reverse the trend it must first come to terms with the changes that have radically redrawn both Egypt and the world. "Restrictions on the activities of political parties in Egypt have also played a role in isolating the Tagammu. It has no real presence at universities or unions. The NDP and the MB are the only major players on the political scene." In the absence of effective organisational structures power has increasingly been concentrated in El-Said's hands. As leading members abandoned the party, El-Said has taken more and more unilateral decisions, overriding earlier policies that were based on consensus. Critics of El-Said tend to face expulsion, as happened with deputy chairman Abul-Ezz El-Hariri who was ousted from his post in 2009 after being accused of harming the image of the party by discussing its internal affairs in the media. Given its debilitated state many believe that, in the absence of a deal with the ruling NDP, the Tagammu has little hope of gaining anything from the upcoming ballot. In the field: Tagammu nominees "We hoped that we would have more candidates but finances limited the number," says party leader Rifaat El-Said. The party's list includes nine women and nine Copts. Realising that the coming electoral battle will be fierce the party selected nominees on the basis of their ability to mobilise supporters. Nominees will have to meet their own campaign expenses. While the Tagammu is seeking to cooperate with the liberal Wafd and the Arab Democratic Nasserist parties in the election to ensure that they are not fighting one another in the same constituencies it denies having entered into any agreement with either the ruling NDP or the Muslim Brotherhood group. For the poor A n MP from 1990 until 2005, El-Badri Farghali is contesting Al-Sharq constituency in Port Said. Despite his wide popularity Farghali lost his seat in 2005, a result he later attributed to electoral fraud. Farghali was one of the founders of the Tagammu Party, which was officially registered in 1976. He has occupied several leading posts and is currently a member of the Tagammu's political bureau. Farghali's campaign will focus on meeting the basic needs of citizens. The public, he says, is not interested in "political" issues like the emergency laws, human rights violations or amending the constitution. In a country where half the population lives below the poverty line the public is far more concerned with affordable housing and securing a job. He insists that a low budget campaign will not harm his chances. For reform Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, is standing for parliament for the first time. A leading Tagammu member, Rashwan is contesting the Armant constituency in Luxor. He remains sanguine about the integrity of the polls despite an absence of guarantees and does not believe the government will seek to rig the results. "Why would it do something that is so clearly not in its own interests?" he asks. He does, however, remain committed to political reform, which he argues is contingent on amending the constitution. But why, after years of commentating on domestic politics, has he suddenly decided to become involved so directly? Rashwan says standing as a candidate is a natural extension of his work to date. His decision to stand in the elections would have come earlier were it not that other family members had previously contested the same constituency. Old time MP Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Shaaban, who has been an MP for five successive parliamentary sessions, will contest Hadayeq Al-Qobba constituency. Shaaban, who joined the Tagammu's ranks in 1994, seems not to be on good terms with the party's leaders. He told Al-Ahram Weekly that to win a parliamentary seat it is necessary to know how to get along with the government. Success depends mainly on whether the government wants a certain candidate to win or not. Maintaining a rapport with the authorities is not everything, however. "Candidates should maintain a high profile in their constituencies at all times," he says, and solving the daily problems facing constituents must remain top priority. It is for this reason, says Shaaban, that he is so keen on holding weekly rallies in his constituency where he can meet the public and listen to their concerns. He has no illusions about the importance of money in an election campaign and is willing to spend heavily. "I do this for the sake of people," he insists.
