CAIRO: Concurrently as the National Democratic Party held its annual conference, One World Foundation for Development and Civil Society Care hosted a seminar on the history and future of the Egyptian political party system, featuring the chiefs of several prominent parties and top-level officials. Maged Sorour, director of the One World Foundation and Civil Society Care and seminar organizer, opened the conference by arguing that the current Egyptian political party system is a puzzling issue in Egyptian society. "The idea of holding this seminar came to mind following the referendum held on the political party system during the presidential and parliamentary elections. "The results from the referendum clearly demonstrate that the Egyptian people not only have very differing views of the current party system, but also seem to have a hard time understanding it, Sorour continues. "For example, while some people believe that Egypt only has one political party, others claim that there are a number of parties, ranging from two to five. Some people don't even think there are any functioning political parties. That is a problem, Sorour notes. Waheed Abd El-Mageed, an expert at the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, emphasizes that while there are 23 political parties in Egypt, none of them serve an effective role in reality due to the heavy restrictions imposed on the political party system. According to El-Mageed, some parties have a difficult time deciding their agenda or even establishing themselves due to serious internal struggles that have come as a result of the negative political environment surrounding them. Secretary-General of the Al- Tagamuu party, Hussein Abd Al-Razek, points out that a large portion of the difficulties Egypt's political parties are currently facing can be attributed to the governing constitution of 1971. The constitution of 1971 is used by the government under special circumstances, such as the current state of one party rule. The constitution includes restrictive laws such as Rule no 28 (1914), which states that if "5 or more people gather in the street and a policemen orders them to break apart and leave, they will be punished if they don't obey immediately . Al-Razek also voiced his strong concern over the Emergency Law, which was established as a security tool for the government following the assassination of former president Anwar Al Sadat. In basic terms, the Emergency Law provides the authorities with the right to suspend basic liberties including: prohibiting strikes, demonstrations and public meetings, and arresting suspects and detaining them without trial for prolonged periods. While this law was principally intended to apply during the time of war or emergency, Al-Razek means that the law is used much more frequently and in an abusive way, which endangers the safety of Egyptian citizens. The Emergency Law has also come under heavy criticism by human rights organizations in the past. Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) has called the law "a second constitution providing the state a kind of immunity towards violating human rights and marginalizing the constitution and law. When the Emergency Law was renewed in 2003, New York-based Human Rights Watch referred to the vote as an exemplification of the opportunism of governments exploiting the threat of terrorism to restrict their own people s rights and freedoms. Furthermore, Al-Razek argued that the Emergency Law has provided the government with a strong control over the mass media. "Radio and television should serve as excellent sources for the public to gain knowledge about politics and local political events, but neither of them can serve that purpose since both outlets are controlled by the government . Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, secretary-general of the Al-Wafd party, indicates that a change in the electoral system would help shape a better and a more fair future for the political parties. "Currently, there is disorder in the elections and the security is interfering in illegitimate ways, which results in a declining engagement of the general public in domestic politics , Fakhry noted. Amen Eskander of the Al Karama party called for an increased public appearance of the parties and for enhanced participation of the public in domestic politics. While Eskander agrees with Abd El-Mageed's statement that there are 23 political parties in the Egyptian party system, he views them as "political clubs guided by their strive to achieve self benefits . "They limit themselves to discussing only certain issues while they should interact with the Egyptian society more. Al-Wafd's Abdel-Nour argues that in order to create a more fair and balanced political society, the government must abandon the Emergency Law and modify the rule of the political system.
