CAIRO: The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has attempted to quell recent speculation that it intends to dissolve the Peoples' Assembly (PA) as a precursor to facilitate the transfer of power to the incumbent President's son Gamal Mubarak. Editor-in-chief of Al-Osboa Mustapha Bakry was the first to posit this scenario, stating that the party would take advantage of recent proposed amendments to the PA law to bring elections forward. The reason given was to rubber stamp the nomination of Gamal Mubarak, who is head of the policies committee at the NDP, as the senior Mubarak would step down before the next presidential election scheduled for 2011. NDP MP Mohammed Khalil Kwaiteh told Daily News Egypt that the rumors were unfounded and said there was no talk within the NDP of dissolving the current PA. "It is merely a rumor caused by what Bakry wrote, he said, "according to the recent constitutional amendments, the decision to dissolve parliament is in the hands of the head of state only. A proposal to reorganize the electoral districts of the PA to add 64 more seats which will be contested only by women was approved Thursday. Al-Dostour Editor-in-chief Ibrahim Eissa wrote in a column published Wednesday that "knowledgeable sources had informed him that the scenario was more plausible than people think for several reasons. According to Eissa, these include the rush to push through the new amendments, tense talk in NDP circles regarding the dissolution of the PA, US President Barack Obama's apparent willingness that power be "inherited in Egypt, the repression of the opposition in Egypt and finally the ambition of Gamal Mubarak and his coterie of businessmen. Reports suggest that one of the intended aims for dissolving the current PA is to reduce the number of Muslim Brotherhood MPs, who hold 88 seats out of 454. However, Head of the Muslim Brotherhood bloc in the PA Hussein Ibrahim told Daily News Egypt that there seemed to be no indication that parliament will be dissolved. "It is an old rumor and reactions to analysis in the media, he said, "and I see no reason to dissolve the assembly, even after the amendments are passed. "If the PA is dissolved, it will not be because of the amendments, Ibrahim added, "and if it is dissolved then the Brotherhood will run in the new elections. We are ready; it is the regime that will face a challenge. The proposed amendment to the PA law has already been accepted by the legislative committee of the advisory Shoura Council. The changes to PA law 38 for the year 1972 aims to boost the presence of women in parliament. Al-Shaab newspaper had reported that Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab had said in statements on June 4 that the amendments paved the way for the dissolution of parliament. Shehab later denied he had made these comments.
