CAIRO – THE historic ruling of the Higher Administrative Court to dissolve the formerly ruling National Democratic Party and confiscate its funds and offices is another gain for the Egyptian revolution. When the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces announced its intention of holding parliamentary elections, in order to create a new parliament responsible for choosing the committee that will draw up a new constitution, different political powers were apprehensive that some remnants of Mubarak's regime and the NDP might get elected to Parliament and even form a majority. Their theory is based on the fact that the NDP managed to kill off political life in Egypt and marginalise the other parties. The Muslim Brotherhood alone are the only well- organised political power with a strong presence in the street, while the new Revolutionary Coalition has yet to get properly organised to ensure success in the coming elections. The court said that the dissolved NDP had corrupted the country, but, now it's gone, the new parties stand a good chance of entering Parliament, especially if the elections are run according to the slate system, with citizens voting for a party rather than a candidate. The court also said that the dissolved party sullied political life in Egypt, using State Security Agency for its own ends, as well as making the country economically and socially backward and causing poverty and unemployment to increase. But its ruling should also have included barring NDP members from participating in political life for at least five years, to prevent their emergence in a new version of the party under a different name. The new NDP Chairman, Talaat el-Sadat, who describes the court ruling as political, has promised to form a New Democratic Party that, he claims, won't have any corrupt members. The Secretary-General of the dissolved party, Mohamed Ragab, says that the NDP Youth are also forming a new party. Therefore, if NDP members aren't barred from engaging in politics for at least five years, this court ruling will be fruitless.
