Al-Ahram Weekly reports on the migration of NDP members to a number of new political parties, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Figures released by the Political Parties Committee (PPC) show the number of licensed political parties has increased to 48, 25 of which have been recognised since the 25 January Revolution and 23 before. In the document "A Map of Current Political Parties in Egypt up to 28 September, 2011" the PPC stated that it had licensed 22 of the new parties. The remaining three were recognised in the wake of judicial orders. New Islamist parties include the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, the Wasat and the Salafist Nour. Liberal parties include the Free Egyptians, founded by Coptic businessman Naguib Sawiris, while leftists are mostly concentrated in the Egyptian Democratic Socialist, the Karama (Dignity) and the Adl Parties. The document also shows how onetime members of deposed president Hosni Mubarak's now defunct National Democratic Party (NDP) have been busy setting up their own parties and infiltrating others. If parliamentary elections do begin on 28 November, as the SCAF has promised, former members of the NDP are likely to emerge as a significant force. Not only are they in the majority in several newly-formed political parties, they are actively seeking alliances with other political forces. In response to demands that leading members of the onetime ruling party be prevented from making a comeback, the SCAF has agreed to a five-year ban on members of the NDP's political politburo, secretariat- general and policies committee, as well as chairmen of the party's provincial offices, from standing in the elections. It is a move that NDP diehards say they will challenge in the courts. In a statement issued on 2 October they pointed out that "the 1956 law on exercise of political rights states clearly that citizens can only be prevented from exercising their political rights by judicial order." The Egyptian Citizens' Party is home to the most prominent former NDP officials still determined to remain political players. Led by former NDP secretary- general Mohamed Ragab, its politburo includes such party bigwigs as Hamdi El-Sayed, chairman of the Doctors' Syndicate, Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, former majority spokesman in the People's Assembly and Nabil Louka Bibawi, a former NDP media spokesman. Ragab told Al-Ahram Weekly that Egyptian Citizens' has 12,000 members. "They are mostly concentrated in Cairo and Alexandria," though "the party will be nominating candidates with strong tribal and family connections in most of Egypt's 27 governorates". Former members of the NDP based in Upper Egypt have joined the Horreya (Freedom) Party, led by businessman Mamdouh Ali Hassan, and now form a majority of its 8,000 members. Hassan is the son of construction magnate Mohamed Mahmoud, a former NDP parliamentary spokesman. "We are opposed to forces that mix religion and politics dominating Egypt's political life," says Hassan. "We have already prepared a preliminary list of 106 candidates for the coming parliamentary election, though the figure is likely to rise." Many former NDP MPs are among the party's ranks, including 12 from Cairo. The family of late president Anwar El-Sadat has rallied behind The Nationalist Egypt Party founded by Sadat's nephew Talaat, appointed chairman of the NDP immediately before it was dissolved on 16 April. The new party includes veteran NDP deputies from the Delta and Alexandria who, Talaat insists, "are of good reputation and really believe in liberal and democratic ideals". "Those who demand former members of the NDP be stripped of their political rights are wrong... anyone who fears that the Islamists will seek to dominate future political life and turn the country into a religious state is duty-bound to encourage all liberal forces, including ex-NDP deputies, to run in the next parliamentary elections. Yomna El-Hamaki, a long-standing member of the NDP's secretariat-general and of the Shura Council (Upper House), is also the founder of the Egypt Development Party. "It is unjust to tar every NDP deputy as corrupt and opportunistic," she says. "Many deputies used their membership of the People's Assembly and Shura Council to push for democracy and freedom and to modernise the economy." El-Hamaki's argument is echoed by Hossam Badrawi, business tycoon, long time associate of Gamal Mubarak and now head of the Etihad (Unity) Party. Badrawi was appointed secretary-general of the NDP at the height of the revolution only to resign after five days, claiming he was misled about the regime's intentions to undertake the kind of reforms necessary to contain the protests. Most, if not all, of the Etihad's ranks hail from the NDP. "Not all NDP members were corrupt," says Badrawi. "Many can still be a voice for liberalism." The Modern Egypt Party, founded by Nabil Deibis, has attracted some of the businessmen whose outspoken advocacy of neo-liberal economics was once the NDPs rallying cry. The Conservative Party, led by NDP businessman Akmal Qortam, and the Bidaya (The Beginning) Party also include members of Mubarak's defunct ruling party. "Negotiations between a number of parties are now underway with the aim of forging an alliance opposed to the Islamists," Horreya's Hassan told Al-Ahram Weekly. It is not a development that has been welcomed by the 25 January youth movements. They have consistently urged the military council to blacklist parties formed by NDP officials. "It is our duty to inform voters of the dangers of electing members of these parties," insists one member of the 6 April Movement. "They are as dangerous to a nascent democracy as the Islamist forces."
