As ruling NDP officials roll up their sleeves to prepare for November's parliamentary elections, internal divisions have beset the Muslim Brotherhood and opposition parties, reports Gamal Essam El-Din The ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) six- member steering office met on 18 October to assess the results of its candidate selection process. NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif said internal elections will continue until 24 October, after which provincial conferences will be held to select the female candidates who will stand for the party in 64 newly created seats reserved for women. The preliminary results of the internal elections, El-Sherif continued, confirmed those of the electoral colleges which met on 5 October, the first stage of a three tier selection process intended to choose 508 candidates for 222 districts. The steering office also reviewed preparations for the NDP's seventh annual conference, scheduled to be held between 9 and 10 November. "The two-day conference," explained El-Sherif, "will be divided into two parts, one addressing the parliamentary elections in general, the second issues specific to individual districts." "Candidates for November's parliamentary elections will attend the conference which meets after the registration period for elections is closed." El-Sherif also indicated that the conference will serve as a launch pad for the party's election campaign. Meanwhile, the question of whether international monitors will be allowed to observe parliamentary polls has become a matter of contention between NDP leaders and American officials. Visits to Cairo by Michael Posner, US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Rights and Labour, and Jeffrey D Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, on 9 and 15 October respectively, placed NDP officials on the defensive. In a press conference on 9 October, Posner said "there are points of stress between Egypt and the US." "First, the United States government believes that observers, both national Egyptian observers and monitors as well as international observers, ought to be allowed to participate and observe the upcoming parliamentary polls. "We believe that in every country, an open electoral process is a healthy thing." Posner noted that during "the Shura Council election there were some problems in terms of access, both for voters and for monitors." "International observers are not something confined to new democracies and they should have access to see what is going on in the polling places, to see as the ballots are moved, have access to the vote counting." "Some of the events in the last couple of weeks at private news organisations, whether newspapers or TV stations, are cause for concern," he said. "What we don't want to see is a pattern of greater restriction on critical voices, especially in the period leading up to the elections." Posner concluded by saying that "the US will continue to support a range of civil society and democratic organisations that promote an open, fair, political process, both in terms of parliamentary and presidential elections next year." In a roundtable meeting with editors of state-run newspapers on 14 October Feltman said "it is Egyptian voters who are going to participate in what we hope will be an open, free, and fair election deciding who is going to represent them in parliament." "There are certain universal principals of human rights that the US believes should be held in America and elsewhere... civil society needs to have space in which to operate and people need to feel that they have freedom of expression, freedom of media, so we look at the elections as part of the whole spectrum of what a democracy, and of what civil society needs." Posner and Feltman's statements were attacked by NDP officials. Two days after Posner's press conference, the NDP issued a statement on 11 October saying "the NDP strongly rejects Posner's statements about Egypt's upcoming parliamentary polls". "In particular we reject what Posner said about the role of international observers in elections. International intervention in the domestic affairs of Egypt will never by accepted by the NDP." The statement emphasised that "Egypt's upcoming parliamentary poll will be marked by transparency and integrity and will be held under the supervision of an independent Higher Election Committee and local civil society organisations." In a second statement, issued on 16 October, the NDP noted "Feltman quickly corrected the mistakes made by Posner in his press conference on 9 October." The NDP statement cited Feltman as saying that "Egypt is a heavyweight player in the region and that it gets attention because of its leadership role". While the NDP was busy criticising American officials, internal divisions continued to hit opposition parties and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Alaa Abdel-Moneim, an independent MP who joined the Wafd Party just two months ago, decided to resign in protest against the party's 17 September decision not to boycott the parliamentary polls. "It is a disgrace that the Wafd has agreed to take part in an election that will be completely rigged and the results of which will be determined before a single ballot is cast," said Abdel-Moneim. Other public figures, including the poet Ahmed Fouad Negm and Al-Ahram 's political commentator Amr El-Shobaki, recently decided either to resign from the party and/or stop publishing articles on the pages of its mouthpiece newspaper in protest at the role of its Wafd leader El-Sayed El-Badawi in firing Ibrahim Eissa as editor of the daily independent Al-Dostour. The Wafd has countered by releasing a list of names of new members of the party. They include Amr Adib, the television presenter in Orbit television network, whose programme has been stopped allegedly for his aggressive criticism of the government and Margaret Azer, a Coptic political activist and previously secretary-general of the Democratic Front party led by Al-Ahram journalist Osama El-Ghazali Harb. Azer, who objected to Harb's decision not to participate in the upcoming parliamentary polls, is expected to be on the list of Wafd's female candidates slated to run in 64 seats reserved for women. Harb denounced Azer's decision. "There are those," he said, "who now want to join the Wafd because they believe it has concluded a secret deal with the NDP under which it will be allowed to win a large number of parliamentary seats at the expense of the Muslim Brotherhood." In a press conference on Sunday held alongside members of the opposition group Kifaya and the National Assembly for Change (NAC), led by ex- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed El-Baradei, Harb was harshly critical of the Wafd and other opposition parties who opted not to respond to El-Baradei's calls for election boycott. NAC leader Hamdi Qandil insisted that "those who have decided to participate are lending a hand to Gamal Mubarak's inheritance of power." Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Hashem Rabie sees recent political and media developments, including restrictions on press and television freedoms, the role of the Wafd in disrupting Al-Dostour and tough security campaigns against the Muslim Brotherhood, as lending credence to rumours that the ruling NDP has entered into a deal with the three opposition parties of the Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserists. In the latest security clampdown 154 members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been arrested. According to Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud "70 detainees still remain in custody while the others were released after questioning." Abdel-Maqsoud said the latest round of detentions began two days after the group said on 9 October that it would field candidates in 30 per cent of constituencies. Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badei said "the arrests seek to spread fear among the Brotherhood's candidates and supporters and intimidate them into not taking part in the poll". The clampdown has included closing several Brotherhood-owned bookstores for putting up campaign posters emblazoned with the group's slogan "Islam is the solution". The group's decision to participate in the poll was met with some dissension within its normally disciplined ranks. Twenty leading members have publicly voiced their opposition to taking part. Infighting reached a peak on Monday when Khaled Dawoud, a leading Brotherhood member from Alexandria, said he intended to file a complaint with Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud accusing Brotherhood MP Hamdi Hassan of libel and slander. Dawoud cited Hassan as "saying in two press interviews that I am a liar and lacking in financial integrity". Dawoud has asked that Hassan's parliamentary immunity be lifted so that he can be investigated by the prosecution authorities.
