The NDP was always going to emerge as the largest party in the People's Assembly. What no one predicted was how large, reports Gamal Essam El-Din As expected the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) emerged triumphant from the two rounds of parliamentary elections, held on 28 November and 5 December. The surprise was the scope of the NDP victory and the poor results of opposition parties. The NDP won 420 seats of the assembly's 508 seats. Only 15 seats went to opposition parties and one to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The remaining 70 were won by independents. The Higher Election Commission, in charge of supervising the polls, ordered run-offs in four districts be annulled after serious irregularities were registered. The NDP won 209 seats in the first round and 211 in the second. The party announced that unlike previous elections members who won seats as independents would not be allowed to rejoin the party's ranks in parliament. "The NDP has no need to increase the number of its deputies since it already enjoys a sweeping majority," said Ahmed Ezz, the NDP's Secretary for Organisational Affairs. NDP Chairman President Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to meet with the party's newly-elected MPs next Saturday or Sunday, ahead of the new People Assembly's procedural session on Monday. Long- standing People's Assembly speaker Fathi Sorour is expected to retain the position he has occupied for 20 years despite widespread rumours he will be replaced by Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs. The meeting will also discuss who will be the NDP's parliamentary spokesman. Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, who occupied the post in the outgoing 2005-2010 assembly, retained his seat in the Gharbiya district of Zifta. The NDP chairmen of eight parliamentary committees were all returned to parliament. They include three business tycoons: Ahmed Ezz (the Budget Committee), Mohamed Abul-Enein (Industry and Energy) and Tarek Talaat Mustafa (Housing), along with Saad El-Gammal (Arab Affairs), Hussein Megawer (Labour), Amal Othman (Constitutional and Legislative Affairs), Abdel-Rehim El-Ghoul (Agriculture) and Farouk Taha (Defence and National Security). Seven NDP chairmen of committees are no longer MPs: Sherif Omar (Education), Hamdi El-Sayed (Health), Ali Gohar (Youth and Sports), Maher El-Derbi (Local Administration), Mustafa El-Said (Economic Affairs) and Ahmed Abu Taleb (Culture, Information and Tourism). The NDP's bloc in the new assembly now includes nine cabinet ministers: Youssef Ghali (Finance), Sayed Meshaal (Military Production), Ali Meselhi (Social Solidarity), Sameh Fahmi (Petroleum), Amin Abaza (Agriculture), Nasr Allam (Irrigation), Mohamed Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub (Local Development), Moufid Shehab (Parliamentary Affairs) and Fayza Abul-Naga (International Cooperation). They will be joined by at least 35 leading businessmen. Among the NDP's business elite MPs are Mansour Amer, Mohamed El-Morshidi, Talaat Al-Sewedi, Mahmoud Othman, Khaled Khairi, Mahmoud Khamis, Adel Nasser, Ahmed Shiha, Mahmoud Al-Shami, Effat El-Sadat, Abdel-Mohsen Abul-Khair, Yasser El-Guindi and Akmal Qortam. Their business interests span every sector of the Egyptian economy. The NDP's six-member steering office met yesterday to discuss the party's preparations for its delayed sixth annual conference, now scheduled for 24- 25 December. The meeting also reviewed the party's performance in the elections, with NDP Secretary- General Safwat El-Sherif arguing that "the party's success was a result of magnanimity and hard work and did not come through raising religious slogans or mixing religion with politics". "The results of the elections reflect the real strength of political forces in Egypt, with the NDP the most dominant." El-Sherif added that 70 per cent of deputies from the outgoing assembly had been returned, 60 per cent of them members of the NDP. The NDP came under sharp attack from opposition forces. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd Party singled out Ezz, the NDP's secretary for organisational affairs, for the most sustained criticism. Wafd leaders dubbed the incoming parliament as "Ezz's assembly". Osama El-Ghazali Harb, chairman of the Democratic Front which boycotted the election, argues that "it is the machinations of Ezz," says El-Ghazali, "that have ensured the newly-born parliament is a disfigured creature." Al-Ahram analyst Amr El-Shobaki believes Ezz ruthlessly manipulated the elections, obliterating the Muslim Brotherhood and secular opposition from the new parliament. "Ezz's motives for doing so were to further his personal and business interests, which include retaining his senior positions within the NDP and parliament, even at the expense of national interests," said El-Shobaki. The NDP's website (ndp.org.eg) reacted to the attacks by publishing photos featuring Ezz sitting with Gamal Mubarak in the party's central operations room. The website stressed that the NDP's landslide was the result of joint efforts of senior officials across Egypt rather than the result of the plans of one individual.
