Fine-tuning the agenda of the NDP's sixth annual conference is a top priority for the party's most senior figures, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Preparations for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) sixth annual conference have shifted into gear. On 10 September, President Hosni Mubarak, in his capacity as party chairman, held a one-day conference with the NDP's 15-member secretariat general together with the chairmen of 30 provincial offices. He told them the sixth annual conference, scheduled between 31 October and 3 November, presented an opportunity for the party to upgrade its strategic vision about both domestic issues and foreign challenges facing the country. Mubarak emphasised that while the NDP has weathered the fall out from the global financial downturn so far "both the party and the government have a long way to go in order to get the economy on the right track and recover from these global shocks." The conference, Mubarak continued, should be used to reassure the poorest members of society that the party remained committed to their welfare. "Please tell these classes that since it took office the NDP leadership has been able to overcome several national crises, the most formidable of which was relieving Egypt of the $55 billion in debts and servicing burdens that it faced in the early 1990s. In spite of all the challenges we face ordinary citizens should know that the NDP is the party most capable of finding solutions to the problems they face in their daily lives and of securing a better present and brighter future." Mubarak lambasted those who seek to exploit freedom of speech and differences of opinion to foment unrest. "Everyone should realise that we are all in the same boat. We must learn the lessons from the political instability and chaos which has devastated many countries around us, both in the Arab world and beyond," he said. Mubarak said he was particularly proud that amendments to the constitution would give women a greater role in parliament. "We have female ministers, professors and deans of different faculties and now a large number of women will be joining parliament." The president also argued that the individual candidacy system remain in place for the parliamentary elections due in 2010. "Individual candidacy is not only a system the public understands but one which best serves political stability in Egypt," he said in reply to a question. He praised the NDP's recent internal elections, insisting that they were "transparent and helped democratise the NDP's decision- making process". "The health of citizens should be a major concern of both government and the NDP," he continued, stressing that he had given orders that all preventive measures be taken to contain the spread of swine flu in Egypt. Mubarak also reviewed progress in implementing his 2005 presidential election programme. During a recent visit to the United States he told a US television channel that his major concern during the two years preceding the 2011 presidential elections would be to ensure the implementation of the 2005 programme. A report on progress so far is scheduled for discussion at the conference. Moving to foreign policy, Mubarak said the main focus of Egypt is to conclude peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, and the best prospect of securing that goal lay in the creation of an independent Palestinian state. "The Israelis should understand that a Palestinian state is a guarantee, rather than a threat, to their security," he said. Mubarak singled out the Anglo- American invasion of Iraq in 2003 as a major factor in the proliferation of violence, extremism and conflict in the Middle East. "Take a look at the conflicts bedeviling countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan and you will see that the entire region exists on a barrel of gunpowder," he said. In a statement about the party's summer activities, NDP Secretary-general Safwat El-Sherif explained that, "the number of NDP members has increased to three million, more than 600,000 of whom voted in the party's recent internal elections." El-Sherif said the elections, which will now be staged every two years, saw 188,955 members vying for 133,000 seats at 6,719 party units in 28 governorates. The candidates, he said, included 26,000 young people and 22,000 women. "The winners included 976 candidates with post graduate qualifications, 4,464 engineers, 3,992 lawyers, 808 doctors and 62 university professors," said El-Sherif. "The figures show that highly educated members of the public are keener than ever to join the NDP," he argued. The results of the party's elections were the subject of debate among the party's six-member steering office which met on 10 September. "The elections," said Ahmed Ezz, NDP secretary for organisational affairs, "provided a good exercise in democracy for NDP leaders at a grassroots level ahead of the parliamentary elections next year." A third meeting, also held on 10 September, brought together Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, the chairman of the NDP's Policies Committee Gamal Mubarak, and a number of cabinet ministers. The meeting focussed on public services, especially health, education and transport. NDP insiders say the off-the-record meeting pinpointed the challenges facing the government. "It is these, combined with the results of the recent NDP poll identifying the public's major concerns, that will dominate the agenda of the NDP's sixth annual conference," one NDP insider told Al-Ahram Weekly. He claimed a consensus had emerged that stemming the spread of swine flu was the biggest challenge facing the country. In an interview with Al-Ahram Nazif said measures aimed at containing the disease could include closing schools and universities and preventing Egyptian pilgrims from travelling to Saudi Arabia.
