Very little, writes Gamal Essam El-Din, as the People's Assembly opened its new parliamentary session yesterday with Muslim Brotherhood MPs deciding to boycott committee elections The People's Assembly yesterday held a procedural meeting for its new session at which Fathi Sorour was re-elected speaker for the 19th time. Sorour's re-election followed a meeting of majority National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs with party chairman President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday. Opposition and independent pundits agree that it is Sorour's loyalty to the regime of President Hosni Mubarak that has made him the longest-serving speaker in Egypt's 142-year-old parliamentary history. The opposition has frequently charged that Sorour's support of the NDP has come at the expense of parliament's supervisory role over the government. In their meeting with Mubarak NDP MPs also agreed to reelect Sorour's two deputies, Zeinab Radwan and Abdel-Aziz Mustafa. NDP MPs were also selected for the posts of chairmen, deputies and secretaries-general of the assembly's 19 parliamentary committees, much to the disappointment of opposition parties who threatened to boycott today's committee elections, claiming the results were a foregone conclusion. Hussein Ibrahim, parliamentary spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al-Ahram Weekly that today's elections would be a farce. "They are not elections but appointments by selection," said Ibrahim, who accused the NDP of using its majority to monopolise positions and rein in parliament. The Brotherhood, independent and opposition MPs had met with Sorour on 6 November to inform him of their boycott. "We told him it was undemocratic for the NDP to monopolise parliamentary posts when opposition and independent MPs occupy 25 per cent of assembly seats," said Ibrahim. "The distribution of posts should reflect the weight of all forces in parliament." Brotherhood MP Mohamed El-Beltagui claims Sorour promised to negotiate with NDP leaders to allow some committee posts to go to opposition members though he warned he was unlikely to be successful. "Parliaments in Arab countries including Yemen, Kuwait, Morocco and Bahrain allow opposition MPs to chair parliamentary committees," said El-Beltagui, so why not Egypt? The meeting between President Hosni Mubarak and NDP MPs on Sunday did not bode well for the opposition, said El-Beltagui. "They decided to take all posts and since we have received no response from Sorour we have no choice but to boycott elections." Brotherhood MPs yesterday held internal elections for the chair and spokesman of its parliamentary bloc and invited opposition MPs and journalists to monitor the election. Independent MP Gamal Zahran told reporters that the NDP had ordered its MPs to move from one committee election to another to ensure the success of the party's candidates. "These are undemocratic practices and aim to make sure parliament remains toothless," said Zahran, declaring that opposition and independent MPs were unanimous in their decision to boycott today's committee elections. "We will not accept to be window dressing, but will seize the opportunity to let the public know that the NDP is an autocratic party." Zahran was at the forefront of last week's campaign against the fifth annual conference of the NDP, pointing out the exorbitant costs involved, including a claim that the state-owned television and media had spent LE300 million on covering the three-day event. Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, NDP spokesman in the assembly, told Al-Ahram Weekly that as the majority party the NDP had every right to field candidates for parliamentary posts. "This does not contradict with democratic practice, it is, indeed, the rule in parliaments everywhere," said Gamaleddin. He argued that it would be far less democratic to set aside positions for opposition and independent groups rather than allow them to be decided by voting, and defended Sorour's longevity in the post of speaker by stressing his "wide experience of parliamentary, constitutional and legislative issues". Yesterday's procedural meeting went ahead against a series of ongoing scandals that have shaken the NDP. Several of its businessmen members have been found guilty of corruption or else referred to trial. Emad El-Galada was sentenced to three years in jail for bribing Ministry of Oil officials. Hani Sorour, an NDP business tycoon and leading MP, faces re-trial on charges of selling substandard medical equipment. Hisham Talaat Mustafa, real estate mogul and member of the Shura Council, is on trial for incitement to murder. And while a local court cleared ex-MP Mamdouh Ismail, now living in the UK, of negligence leading to the drowning of 1,034 people, the prosecutor-general has appealed the verdict. Steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, the NDP's 49-year-old secretary for organisational affairs, has also been the subject of fierce criticism, though he, along with two other businessmen, Mohamed Abul-Enein and Tareq Talaat Mustafa, are standing as chairmen of the assembly's budget, industry and housing committees. Gamal Mubarak, the son of president Mubarak, said during the NDP's conference that the party doesn't pamper businessmen.
