The ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) leaders are rolling up their sleeves to prepare for November's People's Assembly elections, reports Gamal Essam El-Din A meeting held by the NDP's six-member steering committee on Sunday laid the groundwork for the selection of candidates for November's parliamentary poll. The selection criteria, says NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif, have been endorsed by President Hosni Mubarak in his capacity as NDP chairman. According to El-Sherif, the party's official candidates will come through two channels: the party's electoral college and opinion polls. "A large number of party members want to contest the next parliamentary elections, and they will be selected democratically," said El-Sherif. "Electoral colleges will be organised to put forward the names of candidates, and opinion polls conducted to see which of the names commands the support of the public. It will be on the basis of both that the party's steering committee will make a final decision." El-Sherif indicated that as many as 508 candidates could be fielded by the NDP to compete for 454 seats. The party will also hold public rallies in each of Egypt's 28 governorates to select the 64 candidates who will contest seats reserved for women. NDP members wishing to be candidates should register their names during the period from 21 to 28 August. "Once registration is completed, the process of selecting the party's official candidates will begin," said El-Sherif. The selection of candidates is expected to be the main focus of the party's annual conference, scheduled at the end of October. "The conference will be tasked with drawing the party's political roadmap ahead of the poll," according to El-Sherif. Last month El-Sherif told a meeting of NDP young leaders in Alexandria that the party would refuse to field candidates who did not enjoy the full confidence of the public. "We will respect the people's wishes and never select a candidate whose performance in parliament has been rejected by the public," he said, insisting popularity, good reputation and a proven track record would decide who would be fighting for a parliamentary seat. Throughout the last parliament the party was dogged by corruption scandals and criminal cases, as well as by MPs making statements that outraged the public. Khaled Salah, NDP MP for the Cairo district of Al-Zawya Al-Hamra, was recently found guilty of smuggling mobile phones into Egypt, while Hassan Nashaat, NDP deputy for North Sinai, caused a furore when he said the police should open fire on young activists who demonstrate for political reform. Some potential NDP candidates have already begun preparing their election campaigns ahead of a final say on whether they will be standing. "Some feel that they will not be selected by the electoral colleges and others believe the selection process has become very complicated and overly strict," says NDP Shura Council spokesman Mohamed Ragab. He predicts that a large number of NDP members will stand as independents if they are rejected by the electoral colleges. Although the final list of NDP candidates has still to be determined, some names are guaranteed to appear. They include Fathi Sorour, 78, speaker of the People's Assembly since 1990; Zakaria Azmi, 74, chief of President Hosni Mubarak's presidential staff, an NDP MP since 1987 and the party's assistant secretary-general since 2002 and Kamal El-Shazli, a member of the NDP's political politburo who first became an MP in 1964. The party will also field a large number of businessmen, among them Ahmed Ezz, NDP Secretary for Organisational Affairs and Egypt's biggest steel magnate; Mohamed Abul-Enein, a member of the NDP's secretariat-general and a ceramics tycoon; and Tarek Talaat Mustafa, chairman of parliament's Housing Committee and the brother of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, the former Shura Council NDP member who is facing trial on murder charges.
