Dina Ezzat reports on President Mubarak's launching of the ruling party's election campaign The audience was high-level: senior figures from the executive and legislative branches of government, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak and leading members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), including its unchallenged political star, the younger son of the president, Gamal Mubarak. The date was Wednesday, 10 November. The event was a meeting of NDP leaders that had hastily replaced the general party conference, abruptly delayed to 25 December. The keynote speaker at the first session of the two-day event was President Hosni Mubarak, leader of the ruling party since becoming president in the autumn of 1981. Mubarak spoke for less than 15 minutes. Wearing a dark suit and tie, he addressed party leaders in a confident tone, calling on Egyptians to put their faith in the party he has chaired since first taking office almost 30 years ago. The voters Mubarak's statement targeted form a large group: "The humble, the poor and the marginalised... inhabitants of shantytowns and the poorest villages... citizens deprived of sewage services and denied proper housing, adequate education and comprehensive healthcare... farmers, retired civil servants and workers... members of the middle classes and residents of all governorates". It is in fact, as the president and NDP leader stated, "the entire Egyptian population". He said the NDP had announced a programme tailored to addressing the most basic socio- economic demands, while not excluding calls for political reform. "So you can be confident over the future of your kids" runs the NDP's slogan for this year's parliamentary election. The NDP's platform, said Mubarak, aims to "cement our democratic structure... give priority to increasing investments, growth and expanding job opportunities". It is a platform, he continued, that has been designed to transform the Egyptian economy, "improve living standards for Egyptians and widen the scope of social justice". It is, said the president as Mrs Mubarak applauded, a platform that has embraced greater parliamentary participation by including 64 new seats reserved for women candidates. The party's manifesto, on which voters will have their say on 28 November is, Mubarak insisted, in essence a continuation of the platform the NDP adopted in the 2005 parliamentary elections and which has contributed significantly to socio- economic development and "will continue to do so with an eye on the least privileged and accompanied by a concerted effort to secure a trickle-down effect". The NDP will also continue its promotion of political rights which the president said were consolidated by constitutional amendments in 2005 and 2007, something most opposition forces would contest. It is a platform, the president added, that maintains the parameters the party has long established and to which it is fully committed, "keeping religion away from politics" and "stressing citizenship". The president also acknowledged the political keenness of NDP members who wished to run on behalf of the party but were not selected. Gamal Mubarak, the NDP's assistant secretary- general, addressed the second session of the NDP leaders' meeting, itemising for the audience the party's successes over the last five years, which he said included improving economic indicators and social and political rights. "For the next five years I am committed, as the party is committed, to securing an annual growth rate of seven per cent," said Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali. This increase, he argued in the same session, would be generated by improving the performance and revenues of all economic sectors, from agriculture to tourism. Ghali was confident such growth would automatically reduce current "unacceptable" levels of unemployment, estimated by Ghali at less than 10 per cent. It would also allow the government to reduce inflation, increase salaries and expand the scope of public spending. And as the economy grew, said Minister of Housing Ahmed El-Maghrabi, the NDP and its government would continue to direct resources to reducing poverty, improving services and enhancing infrastructure, ensuring an equitable distribution of funds across governorates. As Mubarak insisted in his opening speech, the challenges Egypt faces are far from small. They range from national security issues, including relations between Muslims and Copts, to continued terror threats. Nor, the president acknowledged, is the competition the party's candidates are facing negligible. "We are at the threshold of crucial parliamentary elections through which the party is again trying to win the confidence of voters." According to the final account offered on Wednesday by NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif, the party is fielding 780 candidates to contest 508 seats, and 69 women candidates to contest the reserved quota of 64 seats. NDP sources say they are confident of securing up to 70 per cent of People's Assembly seats, a goal it has failed to achieve in the last three parliamentary elections when the party was forced to re-admit members who had run as independents in order to ensure a majority. Meanwhile, opposition parties and the unlicensed but popular Muslim Brotherhood are also in the process of announcing their platforms. One thing is sure, they will contest the NDP's version of its successes on every front. (see p.3)
