So what was said? Gamal Essam El-Din provides a roundup of the NDP's annual conference In an address to the sixth annual conference of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) on Sunday, Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the NDP's powerful Policies Committee, said the party would face three main challenges in 2010. The most immediate was to win a majority of seats in the mid-term Shura Council elections in June and, later, the People's Assembly elections. The second challenge was to forge ahead with implementing President Mubarak's 2005 presidential election programme while the third, according to Gamal Mubarak extended beyond 2010 and involved pursuing "the long-term process of reform in a much bolder way". He vowed there would be no repeat of the mistakes of 2005, when official NDP candidates secured just 141 seats (32.6 per cent) in the People's Assembly, while members of the outlawed group the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), running as independents, gained control of 88 seats (20.3 per cent). NDP members who won seats as independents were subsequently readmitted to the party's ranks. Party leaders clearly had the MB in their sights, with an orchestrated wave of attacks. "Those who believe that the office of the supreme guide [of the Muslim Brotherhood] will secure democracy for Egypt are wrong... it would be a democracy of one citizen, one voice and for one time," insisted Ahmed Ezz, the NDP's secretary for organisational affairs. Some NDP members, including MP and former police officer Mohamed Abdel-Fattah Omar, urged the government to adopt harsher measures against the group. In response, Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs and the NDP's assistant secretary-general, affirmed that "neither the Brotherhood nor any other religious group will be allowed to mix politics with religion or raise slogans such as 'Islam is the solution'" in next elections. Hamdi Hassan, a leading MB MP, views government attacks against the group as an acknowledgment of its success in "embarrassing the NDP and the government". Outlining the NDP's strategy next year, Ezz said the party would enter elections with a united front. He argued that the decision of many NDP members to run as independents against the party's official candidates had split its vote, something "we will never allow to happen again". NDP's first assistant-secretary Zakaria Azmi pointed out that "at least 60 per cent of NDP members, estimated at three million, still do not have voting cards". "But beginning on Sunday, 1 November," he said, "members will be instructed to register their names on voting lists and when elections come they will turn out in millions to vote for the party's official candidates." Egypt currently has 39 million registered voters. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told the conference on Sunday that implementing President Mubarak's 2005 election programme remains a top priority for the government. "Under President Mubarak's programme we are committed to setting up 1,000 factories, building half a million housing units and raising the salaries of state employees fourfold," said Nazif, adding that "after four years, the government is well placed to meet all the targets by 2011." NDP MP Mohamed Ragab told Al-Ahram Weekly that the general mood of the conference was one of satisfaction with the government's performance. "We did not discuss figures in detail," said Ragab, arguing that "while most members believe that the government performed well in some areas, such as raising salaries and building housing units, they also believe its performance fell short in other vital sectors, including public services." Observers note that the resignation of Minister of Transport Mohamed Mansour following the train crash of 24 October triggered a sharp debate about who should take ultimate responsibility for vital public services, and led, inevitably, to rumours of an impending cabinet reshuffle. Speculation is rife that NDP young guard members close to Gamal Mubarak, including businessman Hossam Badrawi and Cairo University professor of politics Mohamed Kamal, are about to be promoted to government, as ministers of education and information respectively. In his speech on Saturday President Mubarak heaped praise on the party's young leaders. "These young members have a clear vision for the future," he said. Commenting on the rumours, Minister of Housing Ahmed El-Maghrabi told Al-Beit Beitak, the daily TV show on Al-Masriya satellite channel, that every minister is fully aware that one day he will leave office. "I do not worry about it, though I know the resignation of the transport minister has triggered an orgy of rumours," he said. "Whatever is going to happen will become clear within a week, when we will know if there is to be a cabinet reshuffle or not." "The NDP's ambitions," Gamal Mubarak told conference delegates, "go beyond preparing a programme for the 2010 elections... they are about where we should go in the next five years." "The party," he said, "must continue prioritising reform but in a much bolder way. These reforms will be attacked but this should not discourage us from the marching on the road we chose." Mubarak refused to be drawn into giving predictions about what might happen after 2010, insisting "this is not the right time to speak about the presidential elections of 2011." "Some people might work about the issue but many others do not. They are secure in the knowledge that the constitution clearly regulates leadership transition in Egypt." Alieddin Hilal, the NDP's media secretary, argues that "the 2011 presidential election is an elite issue". The conference, he added, had instead addressed issues of interest to the man on the street. "This is the reason why the conference was held under the slogan 'For you'. Political issues, such as the debate around the 2011 elections, can be discussed nearer the time."
