With the sound and fury over, now is the time to internalise the lessons and push forward towards reform, writes Ibrahim Nafie With the final count over in the People's Assembly elections, the National Democratic Party (NDP) has won 311 seats, the independents 112 seats, the Wafd six seats, Tagammu two seats, and Ghad one seat. That's the shape of the parliament that we hope will give us the much-awaited reform. That's the shape of the parliament that will shake, move and fiddle with our laws and regulations. And yet, the first step to reform is that of understanding what happened during the elections. We have to learn our lessons. If there are good things about the recent elections, let's reinforce them, and if there are unpleasant things, let's get rid of them. Perhaps we should form a committee of experts to look into the elections and provide us with assessment and recommendations. After all, we all know that there have been flaws and irregularities. For one thing, the police either did nothing about the violence at first, or then intervened so heavily that it made things worse. Also, we have to look into the role of the judiciary. Judges need to have full control of the electoral process and they need to do so without any interference from the executive branch. While at it, let's take a close look at the supervisory role played by civil society groups. We need to listen to these groups and help them do their job. We cannot allow thuggery and vote- buying to go on. We need proper laws and regulations to eliminate such unsightly practices. The voters' lists need to be updated too. And I can't understand why we keep using voting cards when our digitalised national number cards would do just fine. We still have officials who think in terms of the 99 per cent vote, and they're making things hard for all of us. If we're serious about reform, we'll have to get new people into high places. Our need for reform is beyond the capabilities of at least some of our top officials. The elections exposed the immense weakness of all political parties, including the NDP. In all three phases of the elections, NDP candidates were often trounced by independent candidates, including some who were members of the NDP but had not been nominated by their own party. This goes to show that the NDP is losing touch. It's perhaps time for the NDP to revise its programme in a way that restores voter confidence. The opposition parties have had their moment of truth. Claims that all opposition parties are little more than newspapers, headquarters, and a lot of loud talk may have seemed too harsh at one point. Now I wonder. When push came to shove, these parties won nine votes, and that's for all of them combined. This is less than two per cent of parliamentary seats. Perhaps it's time for these parties to acknowledge their own dilemma. They need to replace their leaders with younger and dynamic ones. The opposition says it's weak because the NDP is making it so. There is some truth in that, but let's be frank. Opposition leaders have been too busy playing second fiddle to the government to revamp their own parties. These elections were a wake-up call for all political parties in the country. If they want to have a continued role in political life, all our parties have to reform themselves first. More than any, the NDP would need to re-invent itself, if it wishes to remain the country's most powerful party. Let's engage in reform and quit talking of foreign pressure. We have to make changes and we have to make them now. Our public is ready for change, and the NDP -- more than any other party in this country -- must live up to its promises.
