The NDP now has to prove that its promises for political reform are more than just hot air, political analysts told Omayma Abdel-Latif Political observers reacted with a mixture of scepticism, disappointment as well as anticipation to the package of political reforms outlined by the National Democratic Party (NDP) during its three-day annual conference which ended on Sunday. According to political observers, however, the NDP's vision of political reform failed to meet the growing popular demand for change. Opposition figures described the move as mere "tactics" meant to appease local demand for political reform and give in to foreign pressure for introducing democratic practices. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, a senior NDP official defended the reform package, describing it as "a turning point in the history of party politics in Egypt". Mustafa El-Feki, head of the Foreign Relations Committee at the People's Assembly told the Weekly on Monday that, "the conference was a success in the sense that there is a change in the political language used by the ruling party." Some analysts pointed out that the introduction of this reform package reflects what they described as "unmistakable current of anxiety -- if not latent panic -- among party cadres". El-Feki conceded that some party members are slowly realising the need to counter the prevailing sense of political stagnation in the country. "The initiative also conveys a message that the party has not yet run out of steam," El-Feki explained The document which caused a stir within political circles was entitled "The rights of citizenship and democracy", and was reviewed by Gamal Mubarak, chairman of the NDP's influential Policy Secretariat, who is also the mastermind behind the implementation of changes designed to democratise the party. The document outlines the necessary steps for political and institutional reform. This included revising the concept of citizenship, improving citizen-state relations, providing justice for citizens, upgrading the cultural infrastructure and involving civil society institutions in the reform process. While political observers acknowledge there was a change in the language used during the conference -- speeches were littered with terms such as "political participation, rights of citizens" and "revival of civil society" -- they nonetheless remained sceptical as to the end result. "The rhetoric of reform has been coming from the ruling political class so much that it no longer means anything," Bahieddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights non-governmental organisation (NGO), told the Weekly. Hassan and several other figures representing NGOs were invited to participate in a dialogue with NDP pundits on ways to promote the role of civil society organisations. According to Hassan, senior NDP officials actually conceded that the issue of civil society and NGOs was not on the party's agenda. Civil society representatives have stressed that the state should cease to regulate their activities. "We told them that if the party wants to seriously engage with civil society, it should first stop regarding NGOs as a threat to security, and that the new NGO law should be scrapped," Hassan explained. Though Hassan believes there are some people within party ranks who appear to be taking the issue of change seriously, he nonetheless expressed deep concern that this dialogue might be no more than "a one-act play". "We were not promised anything. It was simply rhetoric; there were no definite measures for translating this rhetoric into reality. We were told by the information minister that other meetings will follow," Hassan said. Hassan's conclusion, in a way, conforms with the prevailing view within Egyptian opposition circles that the call for reform conflicts with the elements of the old guard who are still at the helm of the party. "The question of whether or not the NDP -- which has perpetuated the one-party system for the past two decades -- can actually reconcile itself with democracy has always been at the heart of the debate," Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed, a political science professor at Cairo University, told the Weekly. "For a long time they have continually dropped the issue of political change because it represented a challenge to the very premise on which the NDP was built." Both El-Sayed and Hassan agree that the reform package failed miserably to meet many of the basic demands for political change which Egypt's political forces have been calling for over the past two decades. This included the amendment of the constitution on the nomination of presidential candidates, changing the way the president is elected, lifting the state of emergency, removing restrictions on the formation of political parties and introducing guarantees for free elections. "None of these demands have been discussed in the conference sessions," El-Sayed explained, "the closest they got was a promise to update the law on political parties by lifting some restrictions which have been placed on existing parties. It was too little, too late," he said. NDP officials, nonetheless, say that the president himself threw his weight behind the reform initiative when he agreed to lift measures introduced under emergency law except those deemed necessary for maintaining security and public order. But it is precisely this point which is at the heart of debate. "Who decides what is a threat to security and public order?" asked Hassan. "If the government considers a demonstration comprising 10 or 20 people or an NGO a threat to public order, how can this -- the decision -- be seen as a boost to political reform?" El-Feki explained, however, that "this was a party conference to form visions; it is up to the government to deal with policy formation and implementation. By all accounts, this conference was a step forward and change will come gradually," El-Feki insisted. And in the words of Gamal Mubarak, implementation is a decisive factor. "We will not wait until the next conference. We will start implementing them as soon as possible."
