The ongoing national dialogue dug into the new presidential elections law. Gamal Essam El-Din reports Officials from 11 parties, including the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), attended the most recent round of the national dialogue last week to discuss complementary legislation to the amendment allowing multi-candidate presidential elections. In a controversial 25 May public referendum, the amendment garnered overwhelming support. The same major opposition parties that boycotted the referendum -- the Wafd, Tagammu, Nasserist and Ghad parties -- also continued their boycott of the national dialogue meetings. Their protests centre on the constitutional amendment's harsh restrictions on independent and political party candidates. The dialogue meeting focused on some of the details of the new law, which is expected to go through the Shura Council next Sunday, and the People's Assembly next Tuesday. In an official conference on Tuesday, Mohamed Kamal, NDP spokesman, announced that a "Presidential Election Law has already been drafted." This law, he added, reflects discussions in meetings of the on-going national dialogue conference and the NDP's Policy Secretariat headed by Gamal Mubarak. Once passed by the two houses, Kamal said, the law will then be examined by the Supreme Constitutional Court, which will provide a final ruling on its constitutionality. One important issue is the committee supervising presidential elections, which, according to the amendment, will feature five judges and five public figures. The five judges include the chairman and deputy chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the chairman of Cairo's Appeals Court, and two senior judges from the Court of Cassation and State Council. While the People's Assembly will choose three of the public figures, the Shura Council will select two. According to Safwat El-Sherif, the ruling party's secretary-general and the speaker of the Shura Council, the "Presidential Election Committee" will be in charge of all election procedures, including "declaring the nomination period, determining the final list of candidates, explaining campaign details, like access to mass media, as well as [enforcing] campaign spending limits." The bill emphasises that all presidential candidates must enjoy equal access to state-run television and radio; they are also authorised to have direct and easy contact with the public anywhere in Egypt. El-Sherif said the law only "strictly bans candidates from making use of places of worship and public facilities (such as government-owned buildings) in election campaigns." In line with the new law's funding ceiling, El- Sherif said, the government would offer every candidate a portion of their funding under the Central Auditing Agency (CAA)'s supervision. The bill also strictly bans receiving money -- either directly or indirectly -- from foreign countries or organisations. Party candidates can receive donations from Egyptians, as long as they are members of the candidate's party. Every candidate, according to the bill, will have to open a bank account to receive donations under CAA's supervision. It is still unclear how the law will regulate funding for independent candidates. NDP Assistant Secretary-General Kamal El- Shazli said candidates would not be able to receive donations from Egyptians working abroad. "We cannot allow Egyptians living in a country like Qatar, for example, to fund election campaigns in Egypt," El-Shazli said. The funding issue has proven highly contentious. All the parties participating in last Saturday's meeting suggested that all funding come from the state. "They proposed this to eliminate any possible infiltration by private or foreign donations," El-Sherif said. The ruling party's response was that the government couldn't afford the estimated LE2 million per candidate needed for that to occur. "There must be private contributions," El-Sherif said, "with safeguards in place to make sure that these are to be used on the elections, rather than on lining candidates' pockets." The NDP secretary-general said that the campaign should be more about policies and platforms than individuals. The NDP, El-Sherif said, was actively encouraging the chairmen of the 10 parties at the meeting to run. He also urged the four major opposition parties boycotting the national dialogue to nominate candidates, "because the era of monopolising power is over". Tagammu Party Chairman Rifaat El-Said told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was concerned that the same pro-NDP biases that made it into the amendment would also feature prominently in the new law. Al-Ghad Party Chairman Ayman Nour, meanwhile, confirmed his candidacy, vowing that if elected he would catalyse comprehensive democratic reform within two years of taking office. Nour also challenged President Hosni Mubarak to a live televised debate. As the meeting ended, El-Sherif said all the participants were opposed to any foreign intervention in domestic affairs, including international election monitoring. At parliament's Arab and foreign relations committee meeting on Sunday, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit said the government would soon announce its position on the international monitoring question. That stance -- in response to US President George Bush's repeated suggestions that presidential and parliamentary elections be supervised by international monitors -- would "reflect Egypt's national consensus".
