A new Tagammu political report reveals the party's return to its leftist oppositional roots, as well as a surprising level of support for the formation of Islamist political parties. Mona El-Nahhas reports Abdel-Razeq El-Said The leftist Tagammu Party has been criticised by observers lately for being too tame in its opposition to the government. The party's most recent draft political report, however, shows that the Tagammu seems to have returned to its traditionally tough stance vis-à-vis both the government and the regime. The 79-page draft report -- which took about six months to prepare -- tackles a number of thorny political issues, many of which were once considered taboo. It will be submitted to the party's fifth general congress, scheduled for 18 December. Members of the party's central committee will discuss the draft, and introduce amendments if needed. The report attacks both the "unlimited" authority of the president, as well as what it called the "hidden attempts to inherit the regime to President Mubarak's 39-year-old son, Gamal". Calling for an abolition of the referendum system used for presidential elections, the report said, "the referendum should be replaced by free elections, and there should be several nominees for the post. The president should abandon his political affiliation while occupying his post." The report then discusses Gamal Mubarak's appointment -- in September 2002 -- to the chairmanship of the NDP's Policy Secretariat, a new and powerful party apparatus, which the reports describes as having "marginalised the rest of the party's organising bodies". The report makes clear its concern about the rapid political escalation of Mubarak's son in this manner being reminiscent of the kinds of regime inheritance that have become common of late in a number of Arab countries. The report's stinging criticism reveals a shift from the somewhat more pro-governmental attitude adopted by Rifaat El-Said, the party's secretary-general, which observers said had caused the party's popularity to drop significantly. El- Said, who will nominate himself for the post of party chairman during December's congress, had shifted the Tagammu's stance from the left to the "governmental" left, causing an internal conflict within the party's ranks, weakening its performance, and decreasing its popular support. However, according to Hussein Abdel-Razeq, the party's deputy secretary-general, "people who speak of the Tagammu's new tone don't know our party's political line. The current report does not differ in content or tone from the past one, issued in 1998 before the party's fourth general congress." The report was also critical of the government's performance over the past few years, discussing "rigged" elections for People's Assembly seats, the "NDP's monopoly over state bodies", and the "spread of corruption" among NDP MPs and senior banking officials. The report blames the "limited margin of democracy" caused by a prolonging of the emergency law, the imposing of shackles upon the press, civil society organisations, and opposition parties, as well as the prohibition of demonstrations and peaceful marches. On the international level, the report called for a re-evaluation of the nature of the Egyptian-American relationship, and a rejection of any American interference in Egyptian affairs on the pretext of encouraging democracy and modernising education. US aid offered to Egypt should not be linked to political or economic terms, the report said After criticising the regime and the government, the party criticised itself as well. The draft admitted that the party had lost its effective role at both the university and professional and trade union levels, as a result of its collaboration with the government. A vivid example provided by the draft was July's Press Syndicate elections, in which Tagammu candidates failed to garner even one of the council's seats. As such, the party is "urgently in need of rebuilding itself; increase its membership... and form a democratic leftist coalition including Nasserists, Communists and the Tagammu". One of the report's more surprising aspects was its support for the formation of Islamist parties, especially considering the leftist party's traditional enmity towards Islamists. Asked if this kind of call meant a rapprochement with the Islamists had occurred, Abdel-Razeq said, "the call for forming Islamist parties stems from the members' commitment to democracy. Every political trend, including the Islamist one, has every right to form a party expressing its ideology, so long as it abides by the rules for forming political parties." Abdel-Razeq noted that although the idea was adopted by a group of party members, it should not yet be considered as reflecting the Tagammu Party's official position. "We have to wait until the fifth congress, and if the group calling for this constitutes a majority, then the party will abide by it." According to Abdel-Razeq, the Tagammu never saw the Islamist trend as an enemy. "Between 1976 and 1999, there was cooperation between the Tagammu and the Muslim Brotherhood. Representatives from the two trends participated with other political forces in conferences, demonstrations, peaceful marches and several other activities." Abdel-Razeq said "the real problem began after 1999 for reasons I prefer not to talk about now." The new report heralds a new era for the party, according to its drafters, with Article 8 of its statutes -- which bans members from remaining in leading posts for more than eight years -- finally set to be applied. As such, party chairman Khaled Mohieddin, who has held that post for 20 years, will step down. Mohieddin will chair a consultative committee, which will also include other distinguished party figures. The committee's role will be to help the party's leadership formulate policy. "By applying this article, the party provides itself as an example for all other political institutions, as a way of generalising the principle of power rotation," Abdel- Razeq said.
