Gamal Essam El-Din reviews NDP plans for the forthcoming parliamentary elections The ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) preparations for parliamentary elections -- scheduled to begin on 8 November -- will be ratcheted up a notch when it holds its third annual conference, scheduled for 29 September. According to NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif the party's Secretariat-General and six-member Steering Committee will meet next week to finalise the conference agenda. Expectations are that the conference will restrict itself to its strategy for the forthcoming elections and a discussion of the pledges made during the recent presidential campaign by its candidate, Hosni Mubarak. Kamal El-Shazli, NDP assistant secretary-general, said on Sunday the party was determined to review the electoral college system ahead of parliamentary elections. This system was adopted following what was believed to be a poor performance by the NDP in the 2000 parliamentary elections. "The review," said El-Shazli, "comes three years after the system was first applied. Intended to make the selection of NDP candidates for parliamentary elections more democratic, it has proved far from ideal." The NDP's poor performance in the 2000 elections was blamed on the manipulation of candidate lists by the party's old guard. In response, an American-style electoral college system was introduced, largely, it is thought, at the instigation of Gamal Mubarak, who was ascending rapidly through party ranks. But that system has itself been vulnerable to abuse, this time by businessmen. Its shortcomings became apparent in the 2004 Shura Council mid-term elections when a number of wealthy businessmen were found to have bought votes within the electoral college -- which currently comprises party secretaries throughout the provinces. The aim of the review, said El-Shazli, will be to broaden the base of the college, though the final decision on candidates will depend on their being ratified by the party's Secretariat- General and President Mubarak. Rifaat El-Said, chairman of the leftist Tagammu Party, believes it will take more than a broadening of the electoral college to prevent businessmen from making a clean sweep in the parliamentary elections. "These businessmen," he told Al-Ahram Weekly, "spent millions of pounds on President Mubarak's presidential campaign and they expect something in return." The electoral college, he said, is little more than a joke, and there is every chance that the next parliament will become a gathering of business tycoons and opportunist politicians. Ahmed Abu Zeid, leading NDP MP and chairman of parliament's Arab Affairs Committee, insists that interest in reforming the electoral college system is a result of the growing realisation within the party that the parliamentary elections will be hard fought. "Given President Mubarak's determination to strengthen parliament, the political ferment that has followed the amendment of Article 76 and intense international interest in Egypt's political life , the NDP anticipates that parliamentary elections will be more competitive than ever." And given that this is likely to be the case, says Abu Zeid, the party is keen that it fields only candidates of the highest calibre. The issue of international monitoring is likely to figure prominently in the run up to the poll. US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice had said earlier this month monitors -- both Egyptian and foreign -- with full and timely access to polling stations would lend transparency and credibility to November's parliamentary elections. Yesterday, US sources in Cairo told the Weekly that Karen Hughes, US undersecretary for public diplomacy, and Dina Powell, US assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs, will be visiting Cairo next week to discuss democratic reforms. Disappointed by the results of the presidential elections the major opposition parties say they will press for international monitoring of the parliamentary vote. The Wafd presidential candidate Noaman Gomaa said last week that his party would now welcome the presence of international monitors. "Initially," he said, "Al-Wafd was opposed to such monitoring but following the presidential elections and the incompetence shown by the government- appointed Presidential Election Committee" the party has changed its position. Not so Osama El-Baz, President Mubarak's political adviser. On Monday he reiterated the long-standing position that international monitoring of elections, whether presidential or parliamentary, is completely unacceptable. Candidates belonging to established political parties are likely to be joined on the ballot lists by independents affiliated to the growing protest movement. Kifaya announced last week that it intended to field candidates throughout Egypt. The movement also plans to stage a demonstration on 27 September to coincide with President Mubarak's swearing-in ceremony for a fifth six-year term. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which had previously said it was approaching parliamentary elections with the utmost seriousness, revealed that it plans to field 150 candidates. And last week the three main opposition parties -- Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserist -- announced that they were hammering out an alliance aimed at breaking the NDP's hold on parliament. NDP sources say that the party's Policies Secretariat, headed by Gamal Mubarak, will be in charge of preparing the party's election programme which will flesh out the pledges already made during the successful presidential campaign. The conference will open with a speech by El-Sherif outlining the party's achievements over the last 12 months. Gamal Mubarak will then take the podium to review the party's political agenda and its preparations for parliamentary elections. The conference will close with a keynote speech by President Mubarak. A number of politicians and journalists from the US, UK and France have been invited to attend.
