Gamal Essam El-Din reviews the legislative agenda that awaits the new session of the People's Assembly Following yesterday's keynote speech by President Hosni Mubarak, the People's Assembly meets today to elect the chairmen and members of 19 parliamentary committees. Given its majority in the assembly and the decision of the largest opposition bloc, the Muslim Brotherhood, to boycott the vote, the NDP will dominate all committees and has already signalled its intention to retain outgoing committee chairmen in their posts. The new assembly's first non-procedural session is scheduled to open on 24 November with members facing a heavy load of new legislation, including a raft of contentious laws, most notably the anti-terror bill which is due to replace the 26-year- old emergency laws. In May 2006, the People's Assembly approved an extension of the state of emergency for two years, allowing for the drafting of a replacement anti-terror law which many opposition and independent MPs fear may be more draconian than the measures it replaces. "This law," says Hussein Ibrahim, the parliamentary spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood, "will be drafted to accommodate Article 179 of the constitution which gives the president of the republic unprecedented powers to detain citizens on suspicion of involvement in terrorist crimes and refer them to a court of his choosing, including military tribunals." The Brotherhood, says Ibrahim, has no doubt that the law will be used by the regime to provide cover for the intimidation of political opponents. "Recently we have seen how the emergency law has been used to arrest hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members and refer them to military courts. The new law is likely to make things much worse. It will make what were hitherto emergency measures part of the constitution, allowing the police to intimidate people and detain suspects at will." Wafd Party leader Mahmoud Abaza last week urged parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour to schedule sufficient time for a thorough debate of the draft anti-terror law, warning against any attempt by the NDP to exploit its majority and rubber stamp the new legislation. On 4 November, at a session of the NDP's congress, Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Moufid Shehab told delegates that the first draft of the anti-terror law would be complete within a few weeks and "the final draft is expected to be ready for parliamentary discussion next April, before the two-year-old extension of the emergency law expires on May 2008." Between the first and final draft, said Shehab, the anti-terror law will be put up for public discussion so that opposition and independent forces can scrutinise it and suggest possible amendments. He indicated that the anti-terror law will include three main chapters, "the most important of which is the first, detailing the definition of terrorist crimes and the measures that should be taken to combat these crimes." Shehab emphasised that the law would be implemented under strict judicial supervision and that anyone convicted under its provisions would have the right of appeal. Nor would there, he insisted, be any contradiction between the stipulations of the new law and Egypt's position as a signatory to international human rights treaties. "I emphasise that this law will not infringe on existing freedoms and human rights," he told NDP delegates. The assembly's agenda also includes a law regulating local administration the aim of which, senior NDP official Mohamed Kamal told Al-Ahram Weekly, is to democratise local government. "The new draft law seeks to decentralise municipal councils by boosting the supervisory powers of city councils," he said. It will seek to transform city councils into mini-parliaments with the authority to oversee the performance of provincial governors and local administration executives. "It will also separate the budget of elected city councils from the budget of the Ministry of Local Development." The budgetary division, argued Kamal, will guarantee the independence of city councils and free them from any pressure exerted by the Local Development Ministry. The new system will have the additional advantage of devolving powers from the government to local city councils thus enabling them to be more responsive in catering to the daily needs of citizens. City council elections, initially scheduled for April 2006, were postponed until 2008 at the instigation of the NDP which used its majority in the People's Assembly to push through the delay. In his speech before the NDP congress President Mubarak confirmed that the elections will now go ahead in April 2008. The delay prompted charges by the opposition and independent forces that the NDP was seeking time to change the constitution in such a way as to ensure it will win a majority of seats on municipal councils. "There are no guarantees that the 2008 municipal elections will be free or fair. Given recent experience, it seems likely the NDP will stop at nothing to ensure the opposition, including the Brotherhood, fail to win seats," said Ibrahim. Kamal indicated that the current individual candidacy system will be applied during municipal elections though "changing the system will be a subject of dialogue with the opposition". Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Younis said on 7 November that his ministry is currently in the process of drafting a new law regulating the construction of civilian nuclear power plants in Egypt that he expects to present to the assembly during its winter session. Younis said the law will guarantee that Egypt's nuclear programme is geared exclusively to meeting civilian energy needs. "It will also include guarantees that the nuclear programme meets with all of Egypt's international, regional and bilateral obligations." A delegation from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Egypt on 20 December to explore areas of cooperation with Egypt as it pursues a nuclear programme. (see p.3)
