Gamal Mubarak says the 28 November parliamentary polls will be a turning point in Egypt's political life. Gamal Essam El-Din reports Leaders of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) mobilised this week to prepare for the 28 November parliamentary elections. On Tuesday, the NDP's Higher Council for Policies (HCP) reviewed the party's platform and preparations for the election. Gamal Mubarak, the 47-year- old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the ruling NDP's influential Policies Committee, said, the complete platform of the NDP for the upcoming election would be announced during an expanded meeting headed by President Mubarak on 10 November. He said the NDP's election campaign will begin on 15 November and will continue until the end of 26 November, or 24 hours before voting day on 28 November. According to Gamal Mubarak, "the 28 November parliamentary election represents a very important turning point in the march of Egypt because it will shape the political, economic and social life of the country for the next five years. "This election," explained Gamal Mubarak, "comes after a long process of reforming the NDP and innovating its organisational structures and ranks. There is no doubt the party is completely different from what it was like in 2005." Gamal Mubarak argued that "the NDP takes the upcoming election very seriously and is well aware that it will face stiff competition and this is why it has prepared a list of very efficient candidates." He indicated that the NDP had "developed a very detailed process for selecting its candidates in the polls and that it has also devised a detailed election programme tailored to address the problems of Egypt on a national level, the problems of each of the 222 election districts in particular and the 32 districts reserved for women." As for the national programme in general, Mubarak indicated that "it aims at completing the process of political, legislative and constitutional reforms that have been introduced since 2005, with the objective of reinforcing democratisation and strengthening the pillars of a modern civilian state in Egypt." He explained that "the coming stage will focus on amending the local administration law to reinforce the principles of decentralisation, fighting corruption and deepening respect of human rights." He added that the programme also deals with alleviating poverty, containing high inflation rates, generating new job opportunities, upgrading education and improving public services. In foreign policy, Gamal Mubarak said the NDP "strongly believes that Egypt can never stay isolated from regional developments and that it should be a major player in the Middle East and the Arab world and capable of safeguarding its national security against any dangers." According to Alieddin Hilal, the NDP's secretary for media affairs, "the general objective of the NDP is to raise the standard of living of the majority of citizens in terms of generating jobs and improving services." Joining forces with Gamal Mubarak, NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif argued that the NDP "was the only political party which has developed a democratic system capable of selecting its candidates in a very transparent way." In El-Sherif's words, "I know of no other party that selected its candidates in such a democratic way and for this reason we are sure that we will win the confidence and respect of citizens in the upcoming polls." El-Sherif attacked "outlawed groups which aim to hijack the constitution for their own interests and exploit the climate of democracy in Egypt to stand against legitimacy." He said the NDP stood firm that Article 5 of the constitution which imposes a ban on mixing religion with politics be strictly implemented during the campaign. El-Sherif emphasised that the selection of the NDP candidates "was marked by complete transparency and that it was by no means prompted by any personal prejudice. "It is natural that the ones who were excluded from the list of candidates will be upset, but certainly the ones selected are the ones most favoured by the party's members and citizens," El-Sherif argued. He added that the NDP "was not ready to sacrifice its reputation by selecting failed individuals or ones who are rejected by public opinion, not to mention that the NDP does not like to have corrupt members among its own ranks or on its list of candidates. "The NDP is not a party of thugs and hooligans or a party based on violence but a party which welcomes fair competition against legal forces and we aim to secure a majority and win the confidence of citizens." El-Sherif concluded by emphasising that "the NDP strongly rejects any form of international or foreign monitoring of the upcoming polls, only welcoming a strong role for civil society organisations to exercise supervision." The list of NDP candidates will be announced in the late hours of 7 November, or after the door of registration is closed on that day, so as not to give a chance for those excluded to break ranks and run as independents. Ahmed Ezz, NDP secretary for organisational affairs, said "as many as 3,700 registered as possible NDP candidates but the party will select only 508, 64 of whom are women." Some believe that the fact that as many as 3,200 hopefuls were excluded from the NDP's list of selected candidates was the reason why President Hosni Mubarak on 30 October postponed the annual seventh conference of the ruling party from 9-10 November to 24-25 December, or almost one month after the election. Independent political pundits believe that there might have been disagreement between the party's so-called old guard and new guard over the candidates who should be selected by the NDP. Ammar Ali Hassan, a political analyst with the Middle East News Agency, believes that "the old guard has fears that a lot of new faces on the party's list can be a mixed blessing and that they could lose to opposition candidates, while the new guard believes that the list should include young and reputable faces." Hassan also agrees that "when 3,200 members know just one day before the party's conference that they are excluded from the list of candidates, they can cause trouble for the conference and for the party's image as a whole." El-Sherif said "internal regulations of the NDP state that the party's annual conference can be held in the last quarter of each year," arguing that "the conference was postponed so that the party leaders can have enough time to focus on preparing for the party's election campaign and not to waste time." He indicated that President Mubarak will chair a meeting of the NDP's 46-member Higher Council on 10 November with the objective of reviewing the party's final list of candidates and programmes. The NDP's Higher Council includes the party's 12-member political bureau and the 34- member general secretariat. According to El-Sherif, "the 10 November meeting will also be attended by some leading members of the Policies Committee led by Gamal Mubarak and chairmen of the party's provincial offices in 29 governorates."
