CAIRO: Going into their third week, the National Democratic Party's internal elections continue to make headlines, while many remain wary of the excessive media coverage they are receiving. The internal elections, held every five years, are the first to receive this much media coverage since the establishment of the NDP over 25 years ago. The NDP says that the ruling party's three-phase internal elections are meant to engage youth in Egypt's political life. On the other hand, the opposition simply regards the elections as "one of the party's staged plays, and does not need deep interpretation, said Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, Al-Wafd opposition party's secretary general Most of the coverage has criticized rather than praised the elections, with reports of violence marring the process, says Abdel-Nour. He told Daily News Egypt that he is not interested in following the elections, which began Aug. 18 and will continue until Sept. 10. "The elections are of no importance, have nothing to do with democracy and will add nothing to Egypt's political life, he added. Abdel-Nour also says there is no link between the timing of the elections, the media coverage and rumors surrounding Mubarak's health which emerged in the past few weeks. The state-run Al-Ahram Weekly reported that Ahmed Ezz, the NDP's secretary for organizational affairs, toured a number of governorates to encourage the party's members to participate in the elections either by running or voting in them. "The NDP's slogan in these elections is: 'Please young people, move forward to fill the leadership posts,' Ezz told Al-Ahram Weekly. Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, and NDP member of parliment, supported Ezz's stance. According to Kwaitah, "The NDP's elections are proof of the presence of democracy inside the party, and are meant to introduce new faces and give youngsters the space to emerge in Egypt's political life. But Nabil Abdel Fatah, expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Daily News Egypt in a previous interview that the elections are meant to create an illusion of authenticity for a party that has been heavily criticized. "Elections and political principles are not common characteristics of the NDP, whose members have used undemocratic methods to get to their positions and have joined the party for personal benefit, he said. Abdel Fatah believes the NDP is experiencing "historical stagnation, and that members fear the rise of other popular political figures. He predicts that the ongoing controversy in the elections will continue to escalate, with the emergence of new figures, new conflicts and large amounts of money that will be paid to serve certain interests. As the first phase of the elections began with thousands of members competing to fill around 151,100 positions, the press reported that disputes in some governorates and low participation in others marred what had been touted by NDP members as a significant step towards democracy within the party. In Al-Arish, six people were injured in fights and in Cairo, elections were postponed indefinitely due to outbreaks of violence, the press reported. The governorates that witnessed violence generally had high participation rates in the elections. Other governorates, particularly Alexandria and Suez, featured weak participation, both in voter turnout and in candidates running for member positions. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, governorates like Beni Suef, Qena and Damietta saw high participation, while Alexandria and Suez had low participation rates that were credited to the overstated fees. The application fees went up to LE 300 for member candidacy and LE 150 for the secretary general candidacy. The results of the first two days were in favor of women and younger candidates. On the third day of the NDP elections, around 100 NDP members from a village in Minya resigned in protest of what they dubbed an intervention of unwanted elements in the elections, according to Al-Gomhuria newspaper. According to Thursday Aug. 30 issue of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, the Chairman of the NDP's Cairo Secretariat Mohamed El-Ghamrawi announced that the results of the first phase of the elections will be postponed due to disputes. El-Ghamrawi also indicated that all the other party unit elections were not complete due to other disputes and were postponed until next week, including the elections at Salam City. Several newspapers have also reported the expulsion of a member of the supervising committee of the Derbala unit after it was proven that he had manipulated the voting process. In addition, 24 candidates from Sinoufar village in Fayoum resigned in objection to changing election dates without prior notification.
