Changes to the election law have split political parties, with the Islamists mostly in favour, the rest against, reports Amani Maged From early morning today representatives from 40 political parties gathered around a single table in an attempt to coordinate their response to the changes in the election law issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and approved by the cabinet. Under the latest revisions, two thirds of the People's Assembly will be elected on the basis of party lists, a third as individual candidates. The participants hoped to formulate a unified position towards what they say is "stubbornness" on the part of the SCAF. Party representatives have communicated their belief to the military council that parliamentary elections be based entirely on closed electoral lists. What the SCAF presented to the cabinet for approval was a 2:1 formula, an improvement on their earlier 50:50 proposition, but not enough to satisfy many party- based activists. Al-Ahram Weekly has learned that while participants agreed on the need to press their demands through peaceful means there were differences over timing and substance. One proposal on the table was a mass rally tomorrow in protest against the reactivated emergency law and demanding a timetable for the handover of power to an elected civil authority no later than February. Others, however, wanted the protest delayed until 7 October and demanded the resignation of the SCAF and its replacement with a civil presidential council. A third group said they would accept the current situation, but only if laws were in place to prevent a political comeback by former members of the discredited National Democratic Party (NDP). Liberal parties are unanimously opposed to the new electoral system but the Islamists are divided. The Salafist and Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya parties see "no problem" with existing arrangements. The Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, has opted for the middle road, insisting on a law to politically isolate former NDP members as a condition for its approval for the amendments. "We still believe that the elections should be based on the list system, but in conjunction with legislation which the SCAF promised isolating members of the NDP we will accept the current status quo," says the party's Secretary-General, Mohamed Saad El-Katatni. Some question whether the Freedom and Justice Party will stick to its guns given that an official Muslim Brotherhood spokesman has announced that the party's mother organisation is in favour of the SCAF's formula. The Islamist-oriented Wasat (Centre) Party is adamantly opposed to the government fudge. "We will continue to demand full and complete rights," said Wasat Party Chairman Abul-Ela Madi, adding that the SCAF's formula "leaves the doors wide open for remnants of the NDP." The party's vice-chairman said the SCAF was resorting to a "piecemeal system" in its dealings with political forces, doling out reforms "a little at a time" and in a manner he found "peculiar". Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya spokesman Tarek El-Zomor argues that the greater the ratio of seats contested by proportional lists the better, for which reason his organisation welcomed the increase to two-thirds. Safwat Abdel-Ghani, a member of the Gamaa's shura council, praised the SCAF for "adopting the compromise we, and a collection of other political forces, proposed as a solution to the half-and-half dilemma". He added that lowering the proportion of seats for individual candidates makes things more difficult for NDP members hoping to stage a comeback, whereas abolishing such seats altogether would leave any election result open to constitutional challenge on the basis that some citizens had been deprived of the opportunity to participate in the poll. The Salafis also welcomed the amendments. Yasser Borhami, vice-president of the Salafist Calling, lauded them as "a favourable response by the SCAF to the Egyptian street". Yusri Hamad, the Salafist Nour Party official spokesman, described the amendments as "a step towards the realisation of the demands of the Nour and other Egyptian parties seeking to forestall the domination of capital, and of the former NDP, over the next People's Assembly, especially given that the government has failed to issue legislation preventing former NDP deputies from standing". Other Salafist parties followed suit. Mamdouh Ismail, vice-chairman of Al-Asala (Authenticity) Party, hailed the amendments as a necessary compromise. He added that the forthcoming parliament would then be able to lay constitutional foundations excluding individual candidates in the future. Meanwhile, presidential candidates have submitted a joint statement to the SCAF. Although the contents of the document have not been revealed in full it contains a demand for a timetable for the peaceful transfer of power to a civil transitional authority. Presidential candidates say they will hold a press conference soon during which they will reveal the details of the statement.
