At the People's Assembly's procedural session yesterday Fathi Sorour was re-elected speaker for the 20th time, Gamal Essam El-Din reports The People's Assembly yesterday held a procedural meeting for its new session during which Fathi Sorour was re-elected speaker for the 20th time. The vote followed a meeting between majority National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs and the NDP's chairman, President Hosni Mubarak, on Tuesday. Opposition and independent analysts agree that it is the regime's trust in Sorour that has made him the longest-serving speaker in Egypt's 143-year-old parliamentary history. In their meeting with Mubarak NDP MPs also agreed to re-elect Sorour's two deputies, Zeinab Radwan and Abdel-Aziz Mustafa. NDP MPs also remained in place as the chairmen, deputies and secretaries-general of the Assembly's 19 committees, much to the chagrin of opposition parties and independent MPs who have long asked for an end to the NDP's monopoly of parliamentary posts. Gamal Zahran, independent MP and professor of economics and political science at Suez Canal University, accused the NDP of using its majority to retain a stranglehold on parliament. "There were no elections yesterday, just appointments by selection." The Muslim Brotherhood's 88 MPs argued that the NDP's continued determination to control parliament contravenes every democratic norm. "The distribution of posts should reflect the weight of forces within parliament, especially given the Muslim Brotherhood occupies 20.3 per cent of seats," said Brotherhood MP Hussein Ibrahim. Parliament currently includes 333 NDP members, 88 Brotherhood MPs, eight opposition members and 10 independents. During last week's sixth annual conference of the ruling NDP, its secretary for organisational affairs, Ahmed Ezz, attacked Muslim Brotherhood, taking the group to task for the proliferation of bad parliamentary practices. "They reject the principle of dialogue, regularly opt to withdraw from voting on laws, organise sit-ins outside parliament and hold press conferences to attract the media," said Ezz. "Brotherhood tactics will never intimidate NDP MPs from exercising their roles in parliament," he continued. NDP spokesman Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin told Al-Ahram Weekly that as the majority party the NDP has every right to field candidates for parliamentary posts. "This is the last parliamentary session ahead of elections next year and it is extremely important for the NDP to retain most of the posts and ensure that its legislative package passes smoothly in parliament." Yesterday's procedural meeting came against the backdrop of a series of embarassing incidents for the NDP during summer recess. Most recently Sorour agreed that four NDP MPs be stripped of parliamentary immunity. Ahmed Shobeir, NDP MP for Tanta and a former goalkeeper of the national football team, is currently facing charges of libel. Mohamed Mandour, NDP MP for Qena, faces charges of assaulting policemen in his home town of Dishna. Yehia Wahdan and Mohamed Abdel-Nabi, NDP MPs for the Cairo Downtown district of Bab El-She'riya, are accused of illegally trading in apartment buildings in central Cairo. Hani Sorour, businessman and NDP MP for Cairo's downtown district of Azbakiya, is currently standing trial on the charge of supplying substandard medical equipment. During the latest NDP conference Assistant Secretary-General Zakaria Azmi pointed out that the NDP had already dismissed two MPs after they were found guilty of corruption. The party's secretary-general, Safwat El-Sherif, was also keen to stress the party would not tolerate corruption. During a recent visit to the United States Sorour defended the performance of the People's Assembly, arguing that it works for the national interests of Egyptians and not for "a specific group or party". In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, Sorour said: "Egypt completely rejects that a certain superpower acts to impose a certain agenda or mode of democracy on a certain country." "Every nation has its own deep-rooted traditions that might contrast with foreign ideals and imported values." He dismissed reports that articles 76 and 77 of the constitution regulating presidential elections and terms are about to be amended as unfounded. He also argued that opposition activist Ayman Nour could not visit the US on grounds that "he has not served his five-year sentence in prison and was released only for health reasons." Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab indicated that the government's legislative agenda for the People's Assembly's final session includes a mix of political and economic laws. "The government has yet to fully decide whether an anti-terror law will be enacted rather than extending the 28-year-old emergency law for another two years." "The problem about the anti-terror bill," argued Shehab, "is that experts still find it very difficult to strike a balance between personal and public freedoms on one hand, and the necessity of safeguarding national security on the other." Shehab added that the legislative agenda will also include a draft law aimed at creating 32 districts across 28 governorates reserved for female candidates. The draft law follows legislation approved last June setting a quota of 64 seats for women in parliament, and raising the number of parliamentary seats from 454 to 518 in the next People's Assembly. The current programme, according the Shehab, also includes bills regulating privatisation, the construction of nuclear power stations, organ transplants and the export of antiquities. No sooner had the new parliamentary session opened yesterday than opposition and independent MPs began submitting interpellations -- questions that must be answered by cabinet ministers -- critical of the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. The majority of interpellations concern the performance of the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) and come in the wake of the train crash of 24 October that led to the resignation of transport minister Mohamed Mansour.
