Despite a glowing official report on the performance of the new parliament it remains, say many, little more than a rubber stamp, writes Gamal Essam El-Din A month after the People's Assembly's first session since the 2005 elections closed and its performance has been assessed in mostly glowing terms in a 73- page report that praised the exercise of its legislative and supervisory roles. "In the new Assembly the number of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs decreased by 20 per cent (from 88.5 per cent to 68.5 per cent), while the proportion of opposition and independent MPs increased from nearly 10 to 31.5 per cent," the report said, concluding that "the new make-up made the opposition remarkably vociferous and effective." The report praised the Assembly's legislative record. The People's Assembly, it said, had passed 33 laws of which 13 on economic affairs. Moreover, an additional 113 laws dealt with financial and budgetary matters. The report also mentioned the five key political laws -- covering the emergency law, municipal elections, judicial sovereignty, publication offences and remand-in-custody procedures -- passed in the Assembly's first session. They were, argued Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdi Hassan, among the most contentious legislation of the session and "demonstrated that the rift between the regime and opposition over political reform remains wide". Hassan believes that the extension of emergency laws for two years and the delaying of municipal elections to 2008 shows that the Assembly still functions as a rubber-stamp for government policy and that while "it is true the number of NDP MPs has fallen they still have the majority to pass laws in the way they and their government like". Objections to the new political laws voiced by the opposition did, however, argues Hassan, help in alerting the public to their dangers. "And because of its campaign against these laws the opposition was able to elicit two promises from the government, the first that the emergency law be replaced with an anti-terror law within two years and that a new municipal law be drafted to replace the current one," said Hassan. According to the report, the majority of laws passed in 2005/2006 were aimed at protecting the interests of those on limited-income showing that "the government is sincere about turning President Hosni Mubarak's bias towards the poorer classes into a reality". Some of these laws, said the report, took the form of protecting consumers against the ravages of the market economy, reduced fees charged for some public services and raised the annual government bonus offered to state employees by 10 per cent. The only law that favoured businessmen, said the report, granted them concessions in building rail tracks in new housing communities. The report said parliament had effectively filled its supervisory role of the government's performance and that "the increase in the number of opposition and independent MPs was the main reason." Deputies made 2275 requests for information, of which the government answered 1094. A total of 163 questions were directed at ministers, of which 45 were answered, and 100 parliamentary interpolations made. The government responded to only 16. According to Wafdist MP Mohamed Abdel-Alim Dawoud opposition and independent MPs "were keen to make optimum use of all the supervisory tools at their disposal to embarrass the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif". And though outnumbered by members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood leftist deputies had been tenacious in their criticisms. "Although Brotherhood MPs were ready to attack the government they did so within limits," said Dawoud, and mostly focused on the extension of the emergency law and the delaying of municipal elections which they saw as attempts to curtail their growing influence. Leftist deputies, by contrast, raised issues that impact on the everyday lives of ordinary Egyptians. "Do not forget that many leftist MPs are journalists and in possession of a great deal of information about corruption," he said. Leftist deputies were the first to raise the issue of corruption in privatisation deals, including the sale of the Bank of Alexandria and Omar Effendi Department Stores. They were also the first to expose the close relationship between Zakaria Azmi, president Hosni Mubarak's chief of presidential staff, and Mamdouh Ismail, owner of the ferry which sank last February at the cost of more than 1,000 lives. Leftist MPs also criticised the visit of Gamal Mubarak, the president's 42-year-old son, to Washington last May. Leftist MPs include three belonging to the Nasserist-oriented Karama (dignity) Party and two independent MPs with Nasserist tendencies. Talaat El-Sadat, the nephew of late President Anwar El-Sadat, also proved to be a thorn in the government's side. Sadat sharply attacked privatisation policies and criticised a number of business tycoons belonging to the NDP. The leftist opposition is widely believed to have been instrumental in amending new legislation covering publication offences. After a high profile campaign led by journalist deputies President Mubarak intervened to revoke some of the custodial provisions contained in the law. In comparison with the performance of leftist and Muslim Brotherhood MPs, NDP and Wafd deputies showed themselves lacking in discipline. The leadership struggle within the Wafd has left the party in shambles. "Internal divisions were so clear that Al-Wafd MPs -- with the exception of Dawoud -- were unable to raise any serious issues," says Amr Hashem Rabie. The same thing applied to the Tagammu Party, who now have just two MPs, one of whom, Abdel-Moneim Tilima, opted to resign from the party's ranks two weeks ago, compounding its internal woes. Rabie also believes that the ruling NDP performed poorly in the first parliamentary session. "Not only was the NDP marred by divisions within its own ranks, they lack a parliamentary leader strong enough to impose discipline and ensure they toe the line," said Rabie. "This was clear in the final sitting when two MPs were daring enough to interrupt Prime Minister Nazif and charge that his statements are usually fabricated."
