Party in distress

Efforts to negotiate a deal for the revival of the frozen Labour Party have apparently collapsed, reports Khaled Dawoud
Conflicting reports and statements have been issued by the Islamist-oriented Labour Party this week on a near-deal with the government that would allow it to resume its activities after a 14-month suspension. According to several press reports, the party's leader, 82-year-old Ibrahim Shoukri, has been holding secret negotiations with Youssef , secretary- general of the ruling National Democratic Party, to end the suspension. The negotiations took place through 's lawyer and leader of the opposition Wafd Party, Noaman Goma'a.
The reports added that a precondition for the deal was that Shoukri would agree to exclude party officials who are viewed by the government as troublemakers. At the top of the list is Magdi , the party's secretary-general and chief editor of its suspended mouthpiece, the biweekly Al-Shaab.
Suspicions that Shoukri was negotiating a secret deal with the government first arose during the recent Press Syndicate elections in which was the main rival running against Al- Ahram board chairman and editor-in-chief, Ibrahim Nafie. Three days before the voting took place on 3 July, Al-Ahram published a front-page statement by Shoukri declaring support for Nafie and stating that ran independently -- not as the party's representative. Although 's chances of winning were viewed as slim even before the voting took place, Shoukri's statement dealt him the final blow, as many journalists wondered how they could vote for someone who does not have the support of his party leader.
After repeated reports that Shoukri was secretly conducting negotiations with the government, called an emergency meeting of several members of Labour's executive committee last week and issued a statement strongly denying that any contact had been made with the government. The statement did not carry Shoukri's signature, prompting observers to believe that there was a deep rift within the party's leadership.
One day after that statement came out, another was sent to newspapers and news agencies on Labour stationery, denying the content of the previous statement and stating that only Shoukri was entitled to speak in the party's name.
told Al-Ahram Weekly that the second statement was sent to newspapers by Shoukri's son, Ahmed, who is known to oppose the way Al-Shaab had been run, its Islamist content and fierce anti-government campaigns. He added that immediately after that "false" statement came out, "I went to Shoukri myself and asked him to sign the first statement which we had issued, confirming our basic principles, and he did sign it."
Shoukri confirmed 's claim in an interview with the Weekly, and said the first statement issued by the party's leadership was "authentic and I signed it myself one day after it was issued." He also saw "no reason to have secret talks with . He is not a judge and we are fighting our way in courts-of-law. What has been published about this matter is not correct."
Shoukri added that he declared support for Nafie during the syndicate's elections "not because I was running after a deal with the government, but because I believe he is the most qualified person for this position, and the one capable of helping us in our current crisis."
In May 2000, the Political Parties Committee, an affiliate of the Shura Council, decided to suspend the Labour Party and its mouthpiece Al-Shaab and referred their leaders to trial. The decision came after Al-Shaab led a vicious campaign against Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, after the ministry published a novel by a Syrian writer which the newspaper alleged had insulted Islam and the Prophet Mohamed. Writers at the newspaper urged Egyptians to pursue jihad to avenge the insult they claimed the ministry had inflicted on Islam. Students at Al- Azhar University, responding to Al-Shaab's call, staged violent demonstrations in which they clashed with police, leaving more than 50 people injured.
At that time, was in prison serving a two-year sentence for slandering Agriculture Minister Youssef . His uncle and former Labour secretary-general, the late Adel , was leading the battle against the Ministry of Culture. The government has always blamed the family for Labour's so- called hardline, vicious campaigns against top cabinet ministers and the turn towards a strong alliance with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Adel passed away in early March, weakening the position of his supporters within the party. Magdi was elected by Labour's leadership as the new secretary-general, but this did not mean much as the party and its newspaper had been suspended.
Informed sources close to Magdi 's wing accused Shoukri of "seeking to revive his role as party leader at any price, even if he had to get rid of Magdi and the Islamist elements within the party." Even when Adel was alive, similar reports had emerged on secret negotiations with the government. Shortly before Adel 's death, Mustafa Bakri, editor of the independent weekly newspaper Al- Osbou, brokered a deal between Shoukri and , but Adel immediately held an emergency meeting of Labour's executive committee and decided to reject the deal. Shoukri had no choice but to give up and bow to his party's stand.
Magdi told the Weekly that the government "cannot get rid of me as secretary-general even if it reaches a deal with Shoukri." He argued that he was elected by party members, "and if I was forced out of the party, I would go to court to prove that this sort of action is illegal."
Yet, he admits that he does not have much choice. "I am not going to resist the police and the government. If they [the government] prevented me from entering the party and imposed a new leadership, that would be their choice." However, such a decision, added, would "confirm that we don't have anything like multi-party politics in Egypt. The government wants to control all opposition parties and make them replicas of the ruling National Democratic Party."
Magdi and his supporters received another blow this week when a board of advisers to the Supreme Administrative Court handed in a report supporting the government's stand in refusing to lift the ban on Al-Shaab. The report said that earlier rulings issued by the Administrative Court in Al-Shaab's favour were incorrect in arguing that although the activities of a political party could be suspended by the Political Parties Committee, the same committee did not have the authority to suspend the party's newspaper. The report added that as long as the party was on hold, its publications should also be put on hold. The Supreme Administrative Court is scheduled to hold a hearing session on 25 August, and is expected to adopt the position of the advisory board, although it is not binding.
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