With Egypt's parliamentary elections coming in the fall and an uncertain presidential situation looming over everything, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)'s information machine appears to be cranking up. In what could be regarded as the unofficial kick-off of Egypt's electoral season, a host of NDP stalwarts have taken to the airwaves and the official press with aggressive messages aimed not only at potential Egyptian voters, but in some cases at the party's internal cadres. NDP spokesman Ali Eddin Hillal, Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour and Information Minister Anas el-Fiqqi have all spoken up in what seems to be a coordinated media blitz. Sorour, in an interview with regime mouthpiece Al-Ahram, charged that the country's opposition forces know “only how to destroy, not to build.” Hillal, a longtime confident of Gamal Mubarak, the 47-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak, recently made remarks targeting Mohamed ElBaradei's campaign for constitutional reform, saying that any country that rewrote its constitution based on the demands of a single person or one small group would be “farcical.” Hillal also delivered a message that seemed designed to quash premature discussion within the ruling party as to who would succeed President Mubarak. Until Mubarak announces whether he will run for a sixth presidential term, Hillal said, any discussion about any other would-be candidate--including, presumably, Gamal--would be “rude.” A final decision on the issue, meanwhile, isn't expected to come until next spring, according to Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Mufid Shehab, who recently said that the NDP would address the situation at a special conference in May or June 2011. And in a development that appears too convenient to be coincidence, this week marked the launch of the most blatant pro-Gamal electoral campaign yet: a group calling itself the "Popular Support Coalition for Gamal Mubarak" began putting up posters around Cairo advocating a Gamal Mubarak presidential bid in 2011. The aggressive tone of the unfolding campaign represents a clear shift in NDP strategy--particularly regarding ElBaradei and his movement, which is diligently gathering signatures in support of his appeal to rewrite several articles of the constitution and clear the way for an independent presidential candidacy. When ElBaradei first arrived in Egypt in February and formed the National Association for Change (NAC), regime-connected pundits and journalists, including Al-Ahram Editor-in-Chief Ossama Saraya, quickly sailed in to portray ElBaradei as an out-of-touch foreign meddler. The smear campaign, however, was soon abandoned in the face of ElBaradei's mounting popularity. “It backfired,” said veteran political activist and ElBaradei campaigner George Ishak. “People immediately saw that it was rude and inappropriate.” Now, with elections around the corner, the regime has once again gone on the offensive. “All the big guns are being brought onto the battlefield,” said Hassan Nafaa, Cairo University political science professor and NAC coordinator. “It's a sign of weakness, not of strength. It shows there is a state of fear. The NDP at this point doesn't even know who their next [presidential] candidate will be.” Meanwhile, the ElBaradei campaign is continuing its grassroots work, gathering signatures for the NAC's seven-point list of demands. The informal goal is to gather one million signatures to show the reform campaign bears a popular mandate. Volunteers from the NAC and a collection of affiliated groups are currently fanning out every night in more than a dozen governorates seeking signatures. The larger goal, however, is to force the government to rewrite the constitution to allow ElBaradei--or any other independent candidate--to run for president without being affiliated with a licensed political party. Nasser Abdel Hamed, a coordinator of ElBaradei's “door-knock” campaign, said his volunteers weren't pushing an ElBaradei candidacy as much as they were pushing for the reforms he advocates. “We're not telling people ‘Nominate ElBaradei.' We're talking to people about change inspired by the symbol of ElBaradei,” said Abdel Hamed. “The goal is not to gather signatures. The basic goal is to plant the idea in every house in Egypt. We're making the idea of change come alive in Egypt.” ElBaradei has repeatedly expressed similar sentiments, saying he did not want to be president and was uncomfortable about being cast in the role of Egypt's savior. But some feel an actual ElBaradei candidacy would capture the imagination of Egyptian voters. “If there was an opposition figure who enjoys such popular approval since 1952, it would be ElBaradei,” said Baha Eddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights, at a recent conference devoted to the prospects of Arab political reform. “If there were free and transparent elections, he would have a chance.”
