Gamal Mubarak kept tight-lipped over his presidential ambitions, focussing instead on the necessity of fighting a religious state in Egypt, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Gamal Mubarak, the 47-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the influential Policies Committee at the National Democratic Party (NDP), was back in the limelight this week, using the ruling NDP's three-day seventh annual conference to address several critical issues, but not about the possibility of him becoming the next president of Egypt. In a press conference on Monday, Gamal Mubarak answered several questions but refused to answer a question about his presidential ambitions. "I answered this question many times and one can refer to these answers," Gamal Mubarak said, keen, though, to indicate that the constitution regulates the organisation of presidential elections. :It is too early to speak about presidential elections and there is nothing new about the party's presidential candidate because a special NDP conference will be held in July 2011 or three months ahead of presidential elections in September," said Gamal Mubarak. Responding to a question about the NDP's overwhelming victory in last month's parliamentary elections, Gamal Mubarak argued that the NDP "got just 83 per cent of the parliament's seats and not 99 per cent as some might think." He contended that the result of parliamentary elections in 2005 "was a hard lesson for the NDP" and that it was important for him "to study the lesson, have the NDP correct itself, make a new reading of Egypt's districts, and exploit the relative weakness of other rival forces." Unlike other senior NDP officials who fiercely attacked opposition parties, Gamal Mubarak adopted a reconciliatory and moderate line. "The NDP is in desperate need of a strong opposition and urges civilian opposition parties to study their strengths and weaknesses and mobilise themselves for the 2015 elections." Gamal Mubarak insisted that the NDP "seeks a dialogue with opposition forces, especially on matters of draft laws covering health insurance, general taxes, civil service and other political issues." He indicated that the NDP will remain in contact with the six opposition parties which have representatives in the People's Assembly and Shura Council. He, however, refused to answer a question about why President Mubarak, in his capacity as president of Egypt rather than the NDP alone, refrains from meeting senior officials of opposition parties. "It is not my job to answer this question." He also attacked former MPs who have decided to form what they called "the parallel parliament" as an alternative to the official People's Assembly whom they describe as illegal. Gamal Mubarak emphasised that the ruling NDP and other legal political parties "should join one common ideology: the importance of keeping Egypt's civil state intact, fighting those who mix religion with politics, and safeguarding Egypt's national security against foreign dangers." Like other senior NDP officials, the president's son confirmed that the NDP filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general, accusing the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of mixing religion with politics. "This outlawed group acts like a political party but all should stand up to it because the constitution imposes a ban on parties based on religious foundations," Gamal Mubarak said, adding that "the battle against extremist forces is not only the task of the ruling NDP, but rather all civilian forces, including thinkers and intellectuals, in order to keep moderation the main hallmark of Egyptian society." He argued that "the NDP adopts a centrist ideology aimed at disseminating moderation and tolerance." On the conference's second day, Gamal Mubarak delivered an address in which he painted a very optimistic picture of the political and economic future of Egypt. "The NDP's policies have caused a big improvement in the life of Egypt in the form of improved public services, better social and health insurance services, an economic boom which generated thousands of job opportunities, and an unprecedented scope of freedom of speech." He indicated that the NDP will radically change the local administration law, granting greater powers to elected local councils to exercise supervision of provincial governors. He strongly denied that the NDP aims to privatise public hospitals. "We rather aim to extend health insurance to cover all citizens," said Gamal Mubarak, adding that "the NDP's efforts aimed at improving living conditions in Egypt's poorest villages will continue unabated." He, however, indicated that "Egypt is in serious need of another wave of economic reforms. The first wave formed the nucleus of the NDP's programme and it was ambitious in form and content," argued Gamal Mubarak, stressing that "right now, we need much bolder economic reforms. "The implementation of these reforms requires adopting tough decisions, especially as the NDP is ready more than ever before to confront massive challenges and reach the high ceiling of expectations of ordinary citizens." Some of the coming challenges, said Gamal Mubarak, are improving public services, especially in education and health, changing the lives of farmers for the better, and fighting extremist and isolationist thoughts. "I, from my position in the NDP, vow that we will discuss all the required initiatives of reform with other political forces." Although the first day of the NDP conference was dominated by President Mubarak's address, Gamal Mubarak sought to talk about the sensitive issue of social subsidies, saying the NDP was keen not to reduce spending. "Two-thirds of the 2010/2011 budget was set aside for spending on social subsidies and this is clear proof that the NDP gives this issue the utmost importance," said Gamal Mubarak. He, however, insisted that the NDP's biggest challenge in this respect is to make sure that "social subsidies really go to the brackets which are in desperate need of them.
