CAIRO - The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Saturday started receiving applications from its members who wish to run in the November parliamentary elections, as a preliminary step to select the party's contenders. "The NDP offices in Egypt's governorates have received hundreds of applications from hopefuls willing to represent the party in the legislative elections. The process will last for one week," a senior official at the party said. He added on condition of anonymity that these parliamentary hopefuls paid some LE5,000 ($850) to LE15,000 ($2,550) as a fee, to guarantee that they are serious about candidacy. "These fees will be determined by the NDP secretaries in each governorate, and will be used to fund the electoral campaigns of the final candidates," the official said. He pointed out that this step would be followed by an internal vote, in which every member of the ruling party would select two candidates for each seat in the legislature. "The final list of candidates will be approved at the party's annual congress slated for November 9," the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told The Gazette. A meeting held by the NDP's six-member steering committee last week laid the groundwork for the selection of candidates for November's parliamentary poll. The selection criteria, according to NDP Secretary-General Safwat el-Sherif, have been endorsed by President Hosni Mubarak in his capacity as NDP chairman. El-Sherif has said that the party's official candidates will come through two channels: the party's electoral college and opinion polls. He also indicated that as many as 508 candidates could be fielded by the NDP to compete for 454 seats. The party will also hold public rallies in each of Egypt's 28 governorates to select the 64 candidates who will contest seats reserved for women.
