The headquarters of municipalities and the dissolved National Democratic party (NDP) have been handed over to the Ministry of Local Development, said Minister of Local Development Mohsen al-Nomani. It has also seized the headquarters' vehicles and documents. A detailed report of the process will be submitted to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces within days, the minister added. Nomani said the buildings will be secured by the police and the army. The ministry and each governorate have agreed to use them as headquarters for popular committees, which he said are to replace local councils. Popular committee members will be chosen in accordance with a military decree to be issued within days. He added that all members of the dissolved NDP will be excluded from membership. A court ruling recently ordered the dissolution of municipalities, saying they were dominated by NDP members - itself ordered disbanded by a court order because of its corruption of Egyptian political life. There are 4496 village municipalities and 199 town municipalities in Egypt, according to official government statistics. These constitute more than 1762 local councils, with around 53,000 total seats nationally. Local councils are responsible for many aspects of local governance, such as sewage, sanitation and roads. In the past, they also served as a major political organizing force for the regime. In the last municipal elections in 2008, the NDP won more than 99 percent of seats while opposition parties received the remainder, about 600 seats. The banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the elections after being allowed to compete for only 20 seats. Translated from the Arabic Edition
