Sunday's meeting between army officials and representatives of political forces fore-grounded the difficulties involved in agreeing a roadmap for Egypt's transition towards democracy, writes Gamal Essam El-Din On 18 September the ruling SCAF's number two, Chief of Staff Sami Anan, held a meeting with representatives of 47 political forces in a bid to fine-tune preparations for parliamentary and presidential elections. The meeting also discussed the possibility of amending laws regulating parliamentary elections and the setting of constituency borders. Following the meeting SCAF officials said a decree would be issued on 26 September fixing a timetable and other details for elections of the People's Assembly and Shura Council. The head of the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) Abdel-Moez Ibrahim surprised commentators when, on 17 September, he proposed that voting for the People's Assembly be held in three stages, beginning on 21 November and ending on 3 January. He suggested Shura Council polls begin on 22 January and end on 4 March. It has been rumoured that the 26 September decree could also include a date for presidential elections. SCAF officials have announced on several occasions that the presidential poll should follow a month from parliamentary elections. Presidential hopefuls, including former secretary-general of Arab League Amr Moussa and ex-chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who met last week, argue that presidential elections should be held in February. Anan's meeting was marred by acrimonious differences between the participants, not least over the electoral system to be adopted and whether members of the now defunct NDP should be barred from standing. Anan praised the SCAF-drafted law regulating the People's Assembly and Shura Council polls which introduced a complex mix of party-lists and individual candidacy. Most political forces support scrapping individual candidacy altogether. The meeting was attended by two constitutional law experts: Tamer Bagato from the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), and Mustafa El-Naggar of the State Council. Mamdouh Shahin, the SCAF's legal adviser, was also present. Bagato and El-Naggar warned that a 100 per cent implementation of the party-list system could be ruled unconstitutional on the grounds that it discriminates against independent candidates. "The membership of licensed political parties in Egypt does not exceed five million. Independent political activists who refuse to join any party are estimated at more than 30 million. Given the figures," argued Bagato, "it is illogical to privilege a minority of party-based candidates at the expense of the independent majority." Minister of Local Development Mohamed Attia argued in favour of candidates being restricted to party lists which, he said, "would help prevent intimidation, thuggery and vote-rigging". To circumvent any possible constitutional challenge "there could be a list for independents who do not want to participate in coalitions or alliances." Informed sources say constitutional experts came out in favour of settling the issue through a public referendum. Meanwhile, political parties have sharply criticised the draft of a new law that seeks to fix election boundaries. An alliance which includes the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the liberal-oriented Al-Wafd has announced that it will submit its own proposals for amendments to the regulations governing elections and setting the boundaries of constituencies. The meeting with Anan also saw the re-emergence of the constitution first debate with Osama El-Ghazali Harb, chairman of the liberal-oriented Democratic Front Party, insisting "it is necessary to draft a new constitution ahead of parliamentary elections" even if this involves delaying the poll. "If parliamentary elections are held quickly then the winners will be the very forces the people rose against during the revolution. We will back to a Mubarak-style parliament again," says Harb. Mohamed Mursi, chairman of Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, rejects such arguments. He warned that "drafting the constitution first goes against the March referendum and declaration which clearly stated that the constitution will be drafted after a new parliament is elected." Harb told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist forces are convinced that "they are going to sweep the upcoming parliamentary elections regardless of the voting system used." "They believe any call to delay the elections is an attempt to undermine what they assume will be their complete control of the next parliament." On Monday Muslim Brotherhood deputy Saad El-Katatni described the meeting with Anan as "a waste of time". "We do not care if SCAF officials respond to our demands or not," he said. Many clashes during the meeting seemed to be dictated by generational differences. When Mustafa El-Naggar, a leader of the Justice Party, criticised the SCAF for dragging its feet on legislation that would prevent senior officials from Mubarak's now defunct National Democratic Party (NDP) from standing in parliamentary and presidential elections, he was immediately attacked by Talaat El-Sadat, the leader of the newly-formed Egypt Nationalist Party and a nephew of the NDP's founder late president Anwar El-Sadat. "El-Naggar's demand opposes the will of the people," Sadat argued. "It is an attempt to expropriate the right of the public to elect the candidates they want."
