Is the People's Assembly about to be dissolved? Gamal Essam El-Din sifts through the possibilities On Monday the cabinet approved draft legislation instituting a quota for women in the People's Assembly. The initiative, proposed by the ruling National Democratic Party's Higher Council for Policies (HCP), which is led by Gamal Mubarak, seeks to increase the number of seats for women. According to cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi, the 1972 law regulating the performance of the People's Assembly will be amended to make an additional 64 seats available for women. The move will swell the assembly's ranks to 518 MPs, the highest number in Egypt's parliamentary history. Currently the NDP favours an additional two seats being reserved for women in 22 governorates, and four in the densely populated governorates of Cairo, Daqahliya, Sharqiya and Beheira. The initiative seeks to reserve seats for women for a fixed period of 10 years, or two parliamentary terms. The bill, says Radi, will apply to parliamentary elections due to be held in October 2010, when 32 districts across 26 governorates will field only female candidates. Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs, stresses that the bill, which faces a full vote next week, seeks to empower women in the political arena. "It is fully in line with Article 62 of the constitution and with President Hosni Mubarak's pledge during the presidential elections of 2005 that women will be encouraged to play a more active role on all levels," said Shehab. The bill is expected to be opposed by Islamists and leftists when it is debated next week. Hussein Ibrahim, spokesman for the parliamentary bloc of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al-Ahram Weekly that "empowering women is not a reform priority and violates the constitution." "The contribution of women to parliamentary and political life has always been insignificant and this bill only serves the interests of the ruling NDP." Ibrahim also argued that "designating districts exclusively for women discriminates against men". Amal Othman, chairwoman of parliament's Legislative Committee, insists the bill "is a victory for Egyptian women". Fast tracking the bill has led to rumours that parliament will be dissolved before the end of its current term. Shehab surprised political circles by telling Al-Wafd newspaper on 4 June that "all options are possible". "Increasing the number of parliamentary seats makes disbanding the People's Assembly a possible option in the next three months," said Shehab, who urged political parties to prepare for parliamentary elections "at any time". He added that the ruling NDP is readying itself for all eventualities, including parliamentary elections before the end of the year. Shehab's comments came a week after Mohamed Kamal, chairman of HCP's Youth Committee, confirmed the new quotas would apply to parliamentary elections due in October 2010, and appeared to backtrack on earlier statements in which Shehab denied the assembly was about to be dissolved. Mustafa El-Feki, a senior NDP official and chairman of the PA's Foreign Relations Committee, told the Weekly he does not believe the assembly will be dissolved before completing its five- year term. He points out that "only President Mubarak is authorised to dissolve parliament". Earlier this year the NDP distributed questionnaires among grassroots members canvassing for the names of preferred candidates. NDP insiders say replies to the questionnaire are likely to see new candidates standing in a fifth of districts. If the party does not move quickly to change its public face on a district level, they say, the fear is that the Muslim Brotherhood could win more seats in the next parliament. "A number of leading NDP officials believe the sooner the parliamentary elections, the better for the party, if it wants to dominate the next assembly and kill off Brotherhood hopes of repeating 2005 electoral success," said one NDP insider.
