Opposition parties were not entirely convinced by the latest public announcements made by senior NDP officials. Gamal Essam El-Din reports With the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) first annual conference less than two months away (27-28 September 2003), the party's leading bigwigs have been extremely busy laying the groundwork for the event by touring governorates and answering controversial questions on democratisation, political reform, and the multi-party system. The resulting two-week blitz of public announcements has inspired a great deal of disbelief amongst opposition and independent politicians. The biggest controversy was generated by NDP Secretary-General and Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif's comments on 23 July. El-Sherif said that the improvements that had been made to the party's platform, combined with an extensive internal reform programme, had catalysed a membership boost of one million persons in less than a year. According to NDP statistics, in September 2002, when the party's landmark eighth congress was held, the NDP had between 1.8 and 2.2 million registered members. Now, according tto El-Sherif, the party has almost three million members, organised through "[its] basic structures in seven thousand local offices throughout Egypt". Major opposition parties reacted swiftly and angrily to the claim. Hussein Abdel-Razeq, chairman of the leftist Tagammu's Political Secretariat, described El-Sherif's statement as "self-delusion [that] reflects disdain for public opinion". According to Abdel-Razeq, "it is quite impossible, even in robust Western democracies, that one party could attract one million members in one year." Abdel- Razeq waxed sarcastic about "the fabulous achievements" that must have been made by the NDP "to convince one million citizens to join its ranks... I wonder why a party with such unflagging popularity resorts to systematic rigging of the elections," he said. Abdel-Razeq's view is that with the NDP at the helm in 2002-2003, Egypt's economy has suffered, and its independence on foreign policy issues has been curtailed by the United States. An editorial in Al-Wafd, mouthpiece of the Wafd Party, also described El- Sherif's claim as illogical and implausible. "How can citizens who have suffered so much as a result of this party's harsh economic policies and its crony government be spurred into joining its ranks?" the paper asked, citing what it described as the disastrous impact of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid's NDP-supported government's decision to float the Egyptian pound. "This decision, which allowed retail food prices to increase by 30 per cent in less than six months, has pushed more Egyptians under the poverty line," the paper argued, accusing the NDP of using its parliamentary majority to prevent economic and financial committees from holding hearings on the recent price hikes. In fact, Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour recently turned down Wafd MP Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour's request for just such a session. Wafd Party Chairman Noman Gomaa, meanwhile, said that, "we have become accustomed to such statements which all allege that 95 per cent of the Egyptian people are fond of the NDP and its values." Diaaeddin Dawoud, chairman of the Arab Nasserist Party, pointed to the recently held elections for Press Syndicate chairman as a clear indication that claims of increasing NDP popularity are false. A Nasserist candidate, Galal Aref, defeated Salah Montasser, widely considered the government's choice. NDP officials, meanwhile, have also been taking swings at the opposition parties, arguing that they have flimsy platforms with little grassroots support, and that they -- the opposition parties themselves -- bear most of the blame for their own weakness and isolation. Addressing the NDP's younger cadres in Alexandria on 24 July, Gamal Mubarak, the 39-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the NDP's influential Policy Secretariat, said "the NDP strongly believes that there must be an open dialogue between the ruling party and rival opposition parties. The NDP believes that others have the right to convey their opinions on national policies to the ruling party. Others, however, insist on isolation and refrain from suggesting solutions or positively contributing to debates on national issues." According to Gamal Mubarak, it was this "passivity [that] leads to the worsening of national problems". President Hosni Mubarak, addressing an NDP conference in Alexandria on 26 July, also blamed opposition parties for failing to reinvigorate their ranks or put forward credible alternatives to NDP- inspired policies. Mubarak rejected the idea that the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq should be the starting point for the Arab world's transformation into a real democracy. "Egypt's march towards full democracy must be gradual," he said, "taking into account the country's particular conditions. We cannot open the door all at once or we will face chaos." Later, Al-Wafd acknowledged the weakness of opposition parties, but attributed this condition to the NDP's abuse of power, insistence on monopolising political life, and harassment of the opposition. Also last week, the NDP's El-Sherif dispelled rumours that the People's Assembly (parliament's lower house) would be dissolved. The rumours were generated in anticipation of a 17 August Supreme Constitutional Court verdict regarding the legitimacy of some two-dozen NDP MPs who have not fulfilled their military service. Most opposition parties believe that if the court decides that these MPs are illegitimate, the ground will have been set for the current parliament to be dissolved altogether. El-Sherif also indicated that a new electoral law aimed at ensuring that the next parliamentary elections (in 2005) are free of bullying and vote buying had not yet come to fruition. Kamal El- Shazli, NDP's assistant secretary- general and minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said the new election bill is being looked at by the Shura Council's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, but that "nothing final has been reached regarding its form".
