Ruling party shakeup

By Gamal Essam El-Din
An assessment committee set up two months ago by President Hosni Mubarak to examine how the performance of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) can be enhanced will meet today to review a preliminary report on the state of party support. The report, prepared by a subcommittee charged with the task of canvassing party officials in key provinces, will serve as the basis of the evaluation committee's recommendations, to be delivered to President Mubarak at the end of the month.
Mubarak, who is chairman of the NDP, has emphasised that being the ruling party is not in itself a guarantee that political activity is being exercised to its full potential. After the unexpectedly flimsy victory of the NDP in last fall's parliamentary elections, Mubarak stressed the need to revamp the party's structure and ensure a better showing in any future elections. "The performance of the NDP should be improved," Mubarak said. "This, in turn, will help improve the performance of other parties and upgrade the quality of political activity."
The evaluation subcommittee visited the governorates of Suez, Al-Minya, Alexandria and Sohag to meet with party officials and form recommendations for streamlining the party's structure and boosting support in areas where the NDP suffered during elections. Comprised of NDP assistant secretary-general Kamal El-Shazli, chief of the presidential staff Zakaria Azmi and two leading members of the party's general secretariat -- Gamal Mubarak and Ahmed Ezz -- the subcommittee is said to have recommended that as many as 16 provincial secretaries, out of a total of 26, be replaced. Nine leading party officials, headed by NDP secretary-general Youssef Wali, will review the report before submitting their conclusions to the president.
The subcommittee report described the NDP's loss of 65 per cent of contested seats as the most dramatic setback in its 23-year history, but officials were quick to point fingers over the party's losses. During a heated six-hour meeting with party officials in Alexandria, young members charged the former head of the Alexandria chapter, Ahmed Khairi, with "using his position to promote his own businesses at the expense of the party's performance," an NDP source said, claiming that Khairi was accused of selecting the Alexandria NDP candidates on the basis of personal relationships. "The result was a lack of coordination between NDP candidates. Some of them even opted to coordinate with independent candidates, especially those of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood."
An informed source, who asked not to be identified, told Al-Ahram Weekly that governorates likely to be affected by a party shuffle are Alexandria, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Al-Gharbiya, Al-Sharqiya, Al-Beheira, the Red Sea, Northern and Southern Sinai, Suez, Port Said, Qena and Sohag. He said that Mohamed Abdellah, who failed in the latest parliamentary elections but was formerly the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, is a candidate to head the NDP's main party office in Alexandria.
Even Cairo will not be an exception. A new NDP policy is being put into place whereby members of the People's Assembly and Shura Council would not serve as provincial secretaries, with a view to ensuring that party officials are fully devoted to their responsibilities. At present, MP Hussein Megawer, who represents Cairo's Maadi district, is also the Cairo secretary-general.
Subcommittee member Ahmed Ezz pointed out that the suggested reforms are not simply a reaction to the last election. "The party was established 23 years ago. Since then, dramatic socio-political developments have taken place," he said. Ezz argued that it was inevitable that the NDP would take the initiative to revamp its image and urged people to see the coming changes as a shift in priorities, not people. "The major change is not replacing some individuals with others, but to forge closer links between the party's committees, provincial chapters and political bureau," he said, noting that the tenuous nature of these links is one of the NDP's major weaknesses.
Ezz also disclosed that the proposed reforms include a new code of behaviour for the party's members of parliament. "This code will confront MPs with certain partisan commitments, and abiding by these commitments will be a major criterion in deciding promotions to higher party positions," Ezz said.
Subcommittee member Gamal Mubarak, however, focused on "the erosion of the party's popularity" as the main cause of the NDP's poor performance in the elections. In the report, he argues that the party's relation to its constituencies needs to be scrutinised and actions need to be taken accordingly. His view is not shared by Youssef Wali and Kamal El-Shazli, who insist that the NDP did not suffer "defeat" in the elections. Wali and El-Shazli maintain that independent candidates who joined the party's ranks following their election are NDP members, and their success, alongside the success of the party's original list of candidates, is an indication that the NDP continues to have massive grassroots support.
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