By Salama A Salama It is perhaps too late now to introduce the legal measures needed to block individuals closely associated with the old regime -- commonly known in the media as fulul, or remnants -- from getting into the next parliament. Now that most of the differences over the constituencies' borders and the voting on lists and individual seats have been sorted out, it is likely that members of the old regime will find a way to run for parliament either on the lists of parties they have just formed or on the lists of old parties. The government and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) have dragged their feet on reviving the "treachery law" introduced after the 1952 Revolution to bar members of the old regime from political life. There are dozens of persons who are now free to run for elected office in parliament, universities and syndicates, although they were part and parcel of the corruption of the old regime. As a matter of fact, certain members of the old regime are taking part in the current political scene, marching in protests, speaking on television, and attending political debates. Increasingly, they are infiltrating the ranks of the old parties. The daily newspaper Al-Shorouk has published the names of 80 former members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) who have been included on Wafd Party electoral lists, including well-known businessmen from Cairo and other parts of the country. The revelation is thought to be at the heart of the current dispute between the Wafd and the Muslim Brotherhood- affiliated Justice and Freedom Party. It must be said that the revolution's true aim was not to replace one regime with another one that embraces the same methods and faces. Clearing the political scene of the minefields of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement was what the revolution was about. Unless we change the way we operate and excise pockets of decay and corruption from our midst, it would be hard to bring about genuine democracy. We need to get rid of the corruption embedded in all our institutions, foremost the parliament. A problem common to all revolutions is that you don't want to start banning people from political life without good reason. Even members of the NDP are not all corrupt or abusive. Some have been just pawns in a bigger political game, and some had no other political venue through which to operate. Now that the country is rid of the NDP and its Policies Committee, it is not fair to impose an indiscriminate ban on all members of the old ruling party. Counsellor Hassan El-Salamoni, deputy chairman of the State Council, has made a valid proposal. A draft law, which he submitted to the cabinet and the SCAF, calls for a five- year ban on all NDP members who took key positions in the party or ran on its lists during the past 10 years. According to El-Salamoni's scheme, NDP members who wish to contest the measures against them can file petitions with the Administrative Court. It is a good idea, and yet again it may already be too late to put together a comprehensive law ahead of elections. I believe, however, that El-Salamoni's ideas may be partially implemented though a ban on individuals indicted or convicted so far in connection with the malpractices of the old regime. Many would agree that a new regime cannot be constructed from the spare parts of the old one. We need to address the question of fulul before it is too late.
