Official opposition parties plan to organise a three-day conference on constitutional reform, Gamal Essam El-Din reports The chairmen of the so-called "coalition of Egyptian opposition parties" -- which includes Wafd, Tagammu, the Nasserist, and the Democratic Front -- have agreed to convene a three-day conference under the banner "constitutional reform in Egypt". In a meeting on 23 February it was announced that the conference will be held between 13 and 15 March. Wafd Party Chairman Mahmoud Abaza said the agenda of the conference will focus on emphasising the republican nature of Egypt's political system, ensuring the integrity of general elections and reshaping the balance between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Wafd's secretary-general, Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, explained that as many as 100 public figures will be invited. "Of these, 40 are members of the four coalition parties and will be 60 public figures, most of them university professors and experts on constitutional law," said Abdel-Nour, adding that "amending articles 76 and 77 of the constitution" will top the agenda. "There is a pressing need for these two articles to be changed in order to emphasise that Egypt is truly a republic. We believe that the changes to articles 76 and 77 made in 2007 court a distorted form of republican rule in which the son could inherit power from the father or in which rotation of power become restricted to a very limited circle of ruling officials," argued Abdel-Nour. Most opposition parties complain that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) used its majority in parliament in 2005 and 2007 to amend Article 76 to further its monopoly on power. "The NDP's amendment of Article 76 was tailored to serve its needs," says Osama El-Ghazali Harb, chairman of the Democratic Front Party. "Though it was altered in 2007, allegedly to give more scope to party-based candidates, in reality it makes it almost impossible for opposition candidates to stand in presidential elections." "Under the amended Article 76 candidates for the presidency must either be leaders of a party represented in parliament or receive the endorsement of a high quota of legislators and members of municipal councils, when the councils and the PA are controlled by the NDP." "There is a consensus among opposition forces that Article 77 must itself be amended to restrict the presidency to two terms in office so as to ensure the rotation of power. The three-day conference will propose changes to both articles 76 and 77 in an attempt to broaden the scope of political participation and ensure the smooth rotation of power." Equally important, says Abdel-Nour, is to propose strategies that can ensure a better balance between the executive and legislative authorities and the judiciary. "Coalition members believe the massive array of powers granted the president by the constitution should be curtailed to create a better balance with the other two authorities." The conference will also, says Abdel-Nour, discuss possible changes to Article 88 with the aim of re-instituting full judicial supervision of the elections. "Since the NDP insists on stripping the judiciary of its supervisory powers over the poll we feel other guarantees must be provided to ensure elections are free and fair." The timetabling of the conference means that Mohamed El-Baradei, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will not be attending. El-Baradei left Egypt earlier this week for Germany and then several other destinations and will return at the end of this month. While Harb said that he was in favour of extending an invitation to El-Baradei, the chairmen of Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserist Party have each appeared to go out of their way to snub El-Baradei's newly-formed National Assembly for Change. "I think the coalition's conference is itself a response to El-Baradei's assembly," said Amr El-Shobaki, a political analyst with Al-Ahram. "The leaders of Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserist parties tend to believe that their coalition was the first to champion calls for constitutional reform and that El-Baradei's Assembly is nothing new. Now they are infuriated that El-Baradei not only ignored them but in many of his media interviews insinuated that they were official opposition parties only because they toed the NDP's line in one way or another." Neither has the coalition invited representatives from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, generally regarded as Egypt's strongest opposition force, to attend. "This also differs with El-Baradei's position. He has said he has no objection to the Brotherhood joining the Assembly for Change," says El-Shobaki. Whatever sensitivities he may have touched, El-Shobaki believes that El-Baradei's return to Egypt has given calls for constitutional reform new momentum.
