The dismal performance of Egypt's opposition parties calls attention to a crisis that affects the entire political system, writes Amr Elchoubaki* This was the year of the demise of Egyptian parties. So little have they offered the nation in performance, credibility and the capacity to mobilise that our entire multi-party system is left reeling. The National Democratic Party (NDP) is not doing as well as it would have us think. It won only 145 seats in the recent parliamentary elections, and then started luring back the independents. The Wafd and Tagammu did badly, and the Nasserist Party even worse. Such being party performance, one must start getting worried about the future of democratic reform in this country. The problem is complex, for it has to do with the way Egyptian parties were formed, as well as a lack of democracy in their internal structure. Let's consider the case of the NDP. Here is a party that was basically the creation of the government. The NDP was formed in July 1978 by a decree of president Anwar Al-Sadat. The president appointed an interim committee of 200 members to form the new party. Immediately, 275 members of the People's Assembly joined in, most from the Arab Socialist Party of Egypt, the ruling party of the time. Since then, the NDP has become a classic case of a party formed by way of state authority and with the help of the state apparatus. The NDP has never forgotten the circumstances of its birth. It has never tried to do things differently. It has never engaged in any effort or practice that is free from state sponsorship. Since it was founded, the NDP was too popular for its own good. It was the party of the president. It was where the bureaucracy became one with the party. And it attracted self- promoting people with divergent agendas. When NDP members seek favours for themselves or their relatives and constituencies, they do so in the absence of social and political guidance. The absence of a clear intellectual framework led to internal chaos and killed any chance for political skills emerging within the NDP. As this year's elections made abundantly clear, the NDP is woefully inept in matters of collective and institutional work. The opposition parties are in another type of debacle. First of all, they live in a political culture that sends everyone scrambling to join the NDP. Almost 2,700 people wanted to run on NDP lists in the recent elections. The public image of opposition parties is that of "illegal" entities disliked by the state. We have about 20 such parties in Egypt. They have become legal either through presidential decisions or legal rulings. Only on one occasion did a party win the approval of the Parties Committee. That was the National Reconciliation Party. With the exception of the three main opposition parties (the Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserist), none of the existing parties has a public following. Not one is backed by a social or unionist movement. Administrative decisions can make parties legal, but they cannot make them real. Most of our parties were born from above, not below. Many have no experience to mention -- no political past, and no social commitment. A new class of politicians appeared who were better at getting legal licences than engaging in political struggle or talking to the masses. These politicians have supplanted those who have things to say but who cannot work their way through the bureaucratic maze one must navigate to obtain a party licence. The three main opposition parties are too stiff to manoeuvre their way in politics. With ageing leaders reluctant to cede their positions to younger generations, two of the major three parties have experienced generational rifts. Young members of the Wafd split up to form Al-Karama, just as they walked out to form Al-Ghad. A minor split of a similar nature happened in the Muslim Brotherhood, with young members opting to form a new party, Al-Wasat. The recent parliamentary elections show how frail our entire party system is, and how popular the legally banned Muslim Brotherhood has become. It's not only the Tagammu that is in trouble, but the entire Egyptian left. Both the Tagammu and Nasserist parties boycotted the recent presidential elections, and both failed miserably in the parliamentary elections. The Wafd suffers a total lack of internal democracy. The same party leader who refuses to discuss the reasons for the party's poor performance has suffocated political debate within the party itself. In the 1970s and 1980s, both the Wafd and Tagammu were more in touch with the public. They had a circle of supporters and sympathisers that transcended party membership. Large sections of the liberal and leftist elite were sympathetic to both. Back then, the Wafd and Tagammu did what political parties do. They remained sensitive to social issues, were politically savvy, and were willing to admit their errors. Now, they snub their critics. The Wafd performed badly in the presidential elections because it came across as stiff and ossified. The Wafd's political discourse borders on preaching. It has acted with intolerance towards its opponents and dissidents. And its old generation is clinging too intently to power. The party needs a revival. It needs to refurbish its political discourse, leadership, and organisational structure. It needs to re-invent itself. Egypt needs a liberal party that is faithful to the legacy and history of the Wafd. This is a time for soul- searching, not for paranoia. Any party that needs to pull itself together after a crisis should do so through a revision of its ways. The role of legitimate parties in any democracy is pivotal. The vitality of the political system depends on the vitality of political parties on the scene. When our political parties wane, our entire political system teeters on the brink of collapse. The current crisis could jeopardise the entire political edifice. Within every political system there is an arena of legitimacy. In this arena, political views wrestle for the hearts and minds of the public. In this arena, ideas live and die, real forces clash, and rivalry impels everyone to better themselves. It is time the government stopped interfering in the creation and operation of Egyptian parties. We need to turn a new leaf. We need to see parties thrive and politics proceed unhindered. We have no use for fake parties. We have no use for parties that are solely interested in palm reading, pilgrimage visa racketeering, and all-purpose profiteering. * The writer is an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
