After last week's rubber-stamping of the emergency law extension, the NDP gears itself for yet more political legislation, reports Gamal Essam El-Din The opinions of members of the People's Assembly and Shura Council over ways to implement President Hosni Mubarak's presidential election campaign package of constitutional and political reforms are currently being canvassed. Parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour and Shura Council Chairman Safwat El-Sherif said last week that assembly deputies and Shura members should make their opinions known by the end of the month. President Mubarak had invited MPs to contribute to the implementation of his election programme in his speech before the newly-elected People's Assembly last December. Later, the People's Assembly's general committee broadened the scope of such contributions to include other political and economic policies. There is likely to be little, if any, common ground between Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and leftist MPs and the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). The opposition within the People's Assembly has repeatedly called for the constitution to be scrapped wholesale, arguing that tinkering with a handful of amendments will not be enough. "Egypt desperately needs a constitution that reflects the realities of the new century," says Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdi Hassan. Hassan did add, however, that Brotherhood MPs would insist that Article Two of the constitution, stating that Islamic Sharia be the major source of legislation, be retained "to confirm the Islamic dimension of Egypt". Some opposition MPs have already expressed reservations over reforms the president has promised, most notably Mubarak's proposal that the office of the Socialist Prosecutor-General (SPG), instrumental in prosecuting high level corruption cases, be abolished. Saad Abboud, a leftist MP belonging to Al-Karama (Dignity) movement, said the SPG's role has proved to be effective in fighting high- profile corruption. "It would be very frustrating for the public to see that the main tool used in fighting corruption be asked by the president to dissolve itself," said Abboud. But the opinions of opposition and independent MPs are unlikely to carry much weight when it comes to constitutional proposals. The final say will rest, as usual, with NDP MPs. This week the NDP launched a series of meetings to formulate the political and constitutional aspects of Mubarak's election programme. On Sunday NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif said NDP MPs would be required to reflect the values for which the ruling party stands. "For instance," said El-Sherif, "it is unacceptable for NDP MPs to argue in favour of socialism when the party is committed to a market economy." El-Sherif also revealed that there is a semi- consensus among Shura Council members that the current individual candidacy system be scrapped in favour of a slate system. They believe, said El-Sherif, that the slate system will reinforce the role of political parties and stop businessmen from manipulating elections. Meanwhile, the NDP's influential Policies Committee met last Thursday to canvas the opinions of NDP MPs on proposals to reform the constitution. Committee chairman Gamal Mubarak said the meeting focused on the electoral system. In the coming period, he said, more debates will be conducted in order to reach a unified stand with opposition parties before new electoral legislation is submitted to parliament. Gamal Mubarak also confirmed that three political reform laws are expected to be presented to parliament before it adjourns next month. They will deal with publication offences, remand in custody, and criminal procedures. In discussing the laws, he said the ruling party was ready to listen to all views. Opposition MPs, however, fear that the NDP will adopt the same tactics they used to force through the extension of the state of emergency on 30 April. Abboud told the Weekly NDP MPs had been expected to rubber-stamp the extension without any coordination with opposition or independent MPs. "The NDP will pay a heavy price if it adopts similar tactics. It will only deepen the current polarisation in political life and widen the gap between the NDP and the opposition." In a press conference held at the end of the Policies Committee meeting Gamal Mubarak conceded that the NDP still has problems in communicating with the public. "We are passing through an important transitional phase when sometimes you have to defend unpopular decisions but the challenge of leadership is to go out and try to make your case and hopefully convince the people and move ahead with reforms," said Mubarak. "We said that we would go ahead with anti- terror legislation to replace the state of emergency and we remain committed to that," he said, adding that he saw no problem in people demonstrating peacefully against the regime. On Sunday police arrested 10 Kifaya activists who were demonstrating in support of judges facing disciplinary action. Mubarak dismissed any suggestion that the ruling party was conspiring the judges as unfounded. The party, he said, was determined to stay the course with its economic and political reforms. "Political issues are important but we have other serious issues to deal with such as improving the economy, creating new jobs, improving trade balance and continuing the privatisation programme."
