Ten of the country's smallest parties have formed a shadow government. Does anyone care, asks Mohamed El-Sayed At least 15 of Egypt's 21 political parties are considered marginal at best. This week, 10 of these minor players tried to break out of their irrelevance by forming what they called "a shadow government". The idea was the brainchild of Ahmed El-Fadali, chairman of the Democratic Peace Party, which was established in June 2005. El-Fadali said his inspiration was the UK, where the main opposition party forms a shadow government. "It is also an idea," he said, "that makes use of the political commotion that swept Egypt last year." El-Fadali has named himself as the shadow government's prime minister. His, and the shadow government's, main task will be touring Egypt's 26 governorates to listen to people's grievances and convey them to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's cabinet. "We will also propose projects and platforms that might help the cabinet find solutions to chronic economic problems," he said. The shadow government will have a three-year term, El-Fadali said, with its premiership rotating between the chairmen of the 10 parties that participated in its formation. Its cabinet will mirror the real one, with the addition of a ministry for Arab unity and social justice, to be headed by Wahid El-Oqsouri, chairman of the Egypt Arab Socialist Party. The parties have also established "a shadow parliament" to follow the debates going on in the real People's Assembly and express their views on them. Members of the shadow government have already met Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Minister Moufid Shehab to discuss potential cooperative mechanisms between the real and shadow cabinets. Shehab welcomed the initiative, calling the shadow government "a positive contribution" to the nation's political scene. "I think its members will do their best to reflect the public's needs to the cabinet," he said. Shehab also vowed that there would be meetings in the near future between the real cabinet and the shadow government to discuss the latter's proposals. Fawzi Ghazal -- the Egypt 2000 party chairman who holds the shadow government's education and scientific research portfolio -- said the idea emerged following a spirited dialogue between the chairmen of 10 relatively small parties. The basic motive was to establish a political institution that could act as an effective watchdog over the Nazif government's performance. Ghazal said this was only natural considering "the political parties law mandate that political parties should be viewed as the government's partners in mapping out the state's policies." The shadow government's spokesman -- Rifaat El-Agroudi, chairman of the National Consensus Party -- said the idea clearly demonstrates that smaller parties are serious about taking part in politics. "It's a serious message that opposition parties should have a voice in the country's political affairs, despite the regime's constant attempts to exclude them from participating in the political process." The shadow government, he said, was a "a political tool aimed at breaking the barrier of isolation". Ironically enough, much of the criticism that has been flung at the shadow government comes from leaders of other marginalised parties who chose not to participate. Geel (Generation) Party Chairman Nagui El-Shehabi said the idea was "absurd". According to El-Shehabi, "the chairmen of these 10 minor parties primarily aim to use this shadow government to mask their failure in both presidential and parliamentary elections." Mamdouh Qenawi, chairman of the Constitutional Social Free Party, said the shadow government was a "farce" concocted by "people who are looking for any sort of political limelight". Qenawi said he had been offered the shadow government's justice ministry portfolio. "I am afraid that this shadow government idea will merely confirm the public's view that minor political parties are only good for fun and games, rather than any concrete contribution to democracy." In Qenawi's view, the crux of the matter is that "the regime will always see minor parties [including Qenawi's own] as being outside of the nation's political equation." For a shadow government to be truly effective, he suggested, you need an "established democracy that has a true multi-party system". The possibility must also exist that the shadow government could one day take office, like in the UK, where the shadow government is also authorised to examine real ministerial files, and has the right to discuss issues with the real government. "They also get salaries for doing so," Qenawi said. According to Qenawi, the group most capable of composing a shadow government is the Muslim Brotherhood, since it has the largest number of opposition seats in parliament (88). "How can 10 parties that don't have a single parliamentary seat between them form a shadow government?" he asked. Qenawi is also not ruling out the possibility that the government, or the National Democratic Party (NDP), played a role in the smaller parties' decision to form their shadow government. His evidence: the meeting with Shehab; and a plethora of state-run coverage and commentary supporting the idea. Egyptian bloggers, meanwhile, were having some fun with the concept. "Instead of meeting to discuss their shameful performance in the presidential and parliamentary elections, the chairmen of 10 minor parties gathered to form a shadow government," wrote one. "It would have made more sense if the Muslim Brotherhood, or reputable opposition parties like the Wafd and Tagammu, had decided to do so." Instead, the shadow government is composed of "comical political figures like the [fez- wearing] Umma Party Chairman Ahmed El-Sabbahi," who is more famous for fortune-telling than politics. El-Sabbahi has been offered the shadow government's religious endowments portfolio.
