CAIRO - As senior members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) resigned on Saturday and some other 'popular' leaders were appointed by the embattled President Hosni Mubarak, who rejected to quit the party, analysts and political parties see the shuffle as nothing but "a cosmetic measure". "The National Democratic Party is clinically dead and no-one in the Egyptian street is concerned with the recent changes in its leadership," said Emad Gad, a political analyst with the Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Gad's remarks came as the top executive committee of President Mubarak's NDP, which includes his son Gamal, resigned en masse, a move swiftly welcomed by the United States as a "positive step". "This is not a real change. Simply, these changes have taken place on the ground after the 25 January uprising," Gad told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. "The main demand is that Mubarak himself should quit the ruling party," Gad said. He added that this could also bridge the “trust gap” between the protesters and the President, who is under heavy pressure to resign from Egypt's top job immediately. Hossam Badrawi, reputed to have good relations with opposition figures, took over as the ruling party's secretary-general and political bureau chief, replacing the incumbent Shura Council chairman Safwat el-Sherif and Mubarak's 48-yearold son Gamal, once viewed as his heir apparent. US President Barack Obama's administration welcomed the reshuffle. "We view this as a positive step towards the political change that will be necessary, and look forward to additional steps," a Washington official said late on Saturday. Moustafa Kamel el-Sayyed, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the shuffle came under internal and external pressure and shattered any plans for younger Mubarak to succeed his father. "They replaced the hated leaders of the NDP by a man who is more open. This distances Gamal from his plans to succeed his father," el-Sayyed told this newspaper. He added that although Mubarak remained president of both the party and of Egypt, the shuffle could also weaken the president "who counted on his son to make a link with the party". Egyptian Minister of Information Anas el-Fiqi denied the president plans to quit the ruling party, quashing as baseless a report by the Dubai-based official TV. Safwat el-Sherif, the former NDPsecretary-general and the current chairman of the Shura Council, broke his 12-day silence after submitting his resignation. "We have to respect the will of Egyptians and their demand for change," said el-Sherif in a phone call with official TV. Rubbing salt into wounds of the ruling party, Moustafa el-Fiqi, the incumbent head of the Shura Council's Foreign Affairs Committee, quit the party, but urged protesters to give Mubarak a chance to manage the changes. "Mubarak should stay until his term ends to lead some significant amendments and reforms," said el-Fiqi. Refaat el-Saeed, the head of the leftist Tagammu Party, agreed with el-Fiqi, stressing that Mubarak's preserving his job in the party and the country for the time being would help reform the whole political life in Egypt. "Mubarak should lead 'surgeries' in the ruling party. However, he can quit later," said el-Saeed, whose party is involved in national dialogue with Vice-President Omar Suleiman. The protesters who have rattled the regime and sent shockwaves across the international stage have repeatedly demanded an end to the “collusion” between the State and the NDP. They are also calling for the dissolution of Parliament and new elections after ballots last November, which saw the NDP gain even more control of a parliament it already dominated. At an emergency meeting, the legislature said it would suspend its sessions until courts rule on lawsuits against many members of the Parliament.
