As the president is sworn in for a new term, Gamal Essam El-Din examines the debate over how Mubarak plans to fulfill the pledges made during his election campaign A 21-gun salute signaled the start of President Hosni Mubarak's fifth six-year term in office. Mubarak -- who won the 7 September multi- candidate presidential elections by a landslide -- was sworn in on Tuesday before a plenary session of the People's Assembly. "I swear by Almighty God to sincerely preserve the republican regime, respect the constitution and the law, look after the people's interests fully, and preserve the independence of the homeland and its territorial integrity," Mubarak said. The ceremony, which was attended by Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, began with Mubarak's 10.30am arrival at the assembly, where parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour welcomed him while a band played the national anthem. Twenty minutes later, Mubarak and Gaddafi entered the assembly hall where they received a standing ovation from the deputies and other guests in attendance. Sorour read out a report on the results of the 7 September poll in which Mubarak garnered 88.5 per cent of the vote. The president then stepped up to the podium to take the constitutional oath. He delivered a short, 20-minute speech promising that his new term "would feature the implementation of a new batch of political reforms aimed at reinforcing democracy". Much like with his campaign speeches, however, Mubarak did not provide the details of how and when those reforms would take place. (The National Democratic Party's (NDP) third annual conference, which begins today, may finally shed the necessary light on these matters.) Mubarak began his speech by offering his appreciation and thanks to the voters who elected him. Addressing "every Egyptian man and woman", the president, "vow[ed] to implement my election programme." In so doing, Mubarak said, "I mean founding a democratically-secure Egypt with an effective parliament, a forceful government, and a judiciary that guarantees the sovereignty of law." The president said he dreams of a democratic society that guarantees the freedoms of its citizens, upholds human rights, supports women's political participation, and strengthens pluralism and party-based activities. Describing the upcoming legislative elections as a complement to what he called the successful presidential elections experience, Mubarak vowed "to work closely with the new People's Assembly to carry out more constitutional and legislative reforms, and pursue economic liberalisation". The parliamentary elections would be free and fair, the president promised. Most independent and opposition MPs were keen to attend the swearing-in ceremony despite last Thursday's call by the Popular Movement for Change (Kifaya) to boycott the meeting. Mubarak's speech was frustrating, however, for Muslim Brotherhood MPs like Mohamed Mursi, the outlawed group's parliamentary spokesman. "The speech featured the same sort of rhetoric he has been delivering for a great many years," Mursi told Al-Ahram Weekly. The president could have shown more seriousness vis-à-vis his reform pledges by responding to some of the opposition's demands on constitutional and political reforms ahead of the parliamentary elections, Mursi said. "If he was really serious about reaching out to all Egyptians, including the opposition, his speech should have delivered a timetable for political reforms." Mursi said that throughout his 24 years in power, Mubarak has been introducing reforms at a snail's pace. "And even those that were actually introduced," he said, "were far short of the opposition's requirements." Mubarak did go into some detail in a Monday interview with Rose El-Youssef newspaper. Much to the opposition's dismay, his main message seemed to be that the implementation of his election programme would require time. "A new six-year term," said Mubarak, "is not a long period to carry out these reforms." Mubarak also emphasised that Egypt was not in need of a new constitution. "The current constitution remains a modern [document] that enshrines a great many freedoms and rights, emphasises the rule of law, as well as the independence of the judiciary, and affirms the multi-party system," Mubarak said. He said Article 76 of the constitution did not need to be re- drafted to accommodate the opposition's demands. The article includes a number of stringent conditions that need to be fulfilled by potential presidential candidates. Some even speculate that it was drafted in a way that levels the ground for Mubarak's son Gamal to succeed his father. Mubarak also told Rose El-Youssef that the parliamentary elections would be run using the individual candidacy system, rather than the collective or slate system being fought for by the opposition. Mubarak said he had clearly stated, during his presidential campaign, that reconsidering the electoral system would require heavy debate and discussion with political parties. On Monday, the three main opposition parties -- the Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserist parties -- agreed that the individual candidacy system opens the door wide for massive election fraud and rigging. The slate system involves the candidates of each political party running collectively on a single slate or ticket in each constituency. Each slate of candidates would be given a number of parliamentary seats in proportion to the number of votes in parliament. According to Tagammu Party Chairman Rifaat El-Said, only the slate system reinforces the powers of parliament in terms of creating more balanced representation, enabling parties to gain the five per cent required to field presidential candidates in 2011. Wafd Party Leader Noaman Gomaa said Mubarak's position provides an initial signal that he will be reneging on his election campaign promises. The three parties said they would contest the elections as an alliance aimed at breaking the NDP's parliamentary monopoly. They will also ask international monitors to supervise the polls because "they no longer trust the current government to conduct fair elections".
