I was very pleased by the statements made by Mufid Shehab, Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils, in which he denied rumors that the People's Assembly (Parliament) will be dissolved and new elections will be held before the end of the year. He confirmed that the Parliament will continue until its legal term in October 2010. I was pleased because Shehab's statements reflected that the state respects the legal and constitutional norms, including those relating to the period of time needed for the work of institutions or even a public position or post. Indeed, manipulating time and violating the laws are the main reasons behind the retreat of credibility and growth of authoritarianism, which does not respect the laws, with the exception of a certain situation or person or group in a particular political moment. In fact, the current Parliament is, in spite of all suspicions and accusations against it, one of the most vital parliamentary councils in recent decades, not only because it is the first council of which the opposition constitutes 27% - an unprecedented event since 1950 when 29% of the Parliament were opposition - but also because the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has become more dynamic than ever before. It has become more active in terms proposing and discussing the laws in the NDP or the Parliament and the Shura Council (advisory council). Anyway, there is a kind of constructive competition between the two houses of parliament on the various laws, as the government has become worried when the parliament discusses a law or an issue after it realized that it could not easily pass the laws it wants from the Parliament as it used to do. It is no longer usual to have a law returned to the Parliament to be re-discussed or re-drafted. As for the budget, the government has been forced to ask the parliament - in accordance with the constitutional rules - to decide how to spend the budget like what has recently happened with the social pay rise.
However, it seems that this vitality does not satisfy those who do not want the parliamentary rules to be stable. They do not want to miss the opportunity to spoil the ongoing progress in the interaction between the different parties and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Group in the national issues, as what happened when dealing with Hezbollah terrorist cell when the MB Parliamentary Bloc adopted the "Egypt First" slogan contrary to what was said by their leaders. There could be difference in everything else, as everyone has his own opinion. Those who want to spoil progress do not do this arbitrarily, but they want to give reasons for the political appropriateness and impose it on the rules and laws, as the election of the Parliament is near to that of the Shura Council. In addition, the two elections will be held prior to the presidential elections in 2011. Therefore, it is logical to hold the parliamentary elections this year, the Shura Council next year and the presidential elections on schedule.
But, this will turn the election process into a kind of political game that would not be played in accordance with the laws that failed to make elections not so close to each other. In addition, the other countries do not find it difficult to deal with many elections at a short time. It is good to have a sort of political mobility on many fronts as long as this has met the terms of transparency and credibility.
This highlights the importance of holding the elections on time, as the High National Committee for Elections did not take enough time to prepare for the parliamentary elections on the one hand and neither the government nor the NDP reached a convincing law on elections at the level of the parties and committees on the other hand. In addition, the NDP has not fulfilled its promises with regard to the law on elections, ending the state of emergency, and the law on decentralization or local administration. The NDP had no time to achieve this task that seems more difficult than expected.
