Africa, Headlines, Middle East & North Africa | Analysis

EGYPT: Ruling Party Delivers More Disappointment

Analysis by Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Nov 13 2008 (IPS) - The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak promised a “new style of thinking” at its fifth annual party congress last week, but critics in the opposition say they saw little of it.

“As was expected, the party conference featured empty words and promises intended for domestic consumption, with very little basis in reality,” Essam Al-Arian, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt largest opposition movement, told IPS.

The conference, convened Nov. 1 to 3 under the slogan ‘A New Style of Thinking for the Future of Our Country’ opened with an unusually forthright challenge to Egypt’s political opposition. On the first day of the event, several party stalwarts condemned the recent wave of “unfounded” attacks on the NDP in the local independent press.

“Those who attack the NDP are unaware of the scope of the party’s achievements,” NDP assistant secretary-general Zakaria Azmi declared.

There’s no denying that the ruling party, reeling under a wave of scandals, has received more than its usual share of bad press in recent months.

A prominent NDP member, construction tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa, is currently on trial facing charges of involvement in the murder of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. Another high-ranking party official and business magnate, Mamdouh Ismael, was implicated in the death of more than a thousand people when a ferry he owned sank in the Red Sea in 2006, although he was cleared in a controversial court ruling earlier this year.


On the second day of the congress, Gamal Mubarak, the NDP’s assistant secretary-general and son of President Hosni Mubarak, defended the party against its detractors.

“They endlessly criticise us – unfairly so – for being insensitive to social justice,” he declared. “The question is, what plans do they have to promote the high growth rates needed to secure social justice?”

The most scathing affronts came from NDP secretary for organisational affairs Ahmed Ezz, who accused the opposition of attacking the ruling party to distract attention from their own shortcomings.

“I advise opposition parties not to attack a successful party like the NDP, because we’re not to blame for your internal divisions,” Ezz was quoted as saying.

“These attacks on the opposition by party leaders were unprecedented,” Amr Hashem Rabie, an expert in Egyptian party politics at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS. “They accused the opposition of exaggerating the country’s problems and of not having its own political agenda to resolve them.”

The NDP’s Ezz went on to single out the Muslim Brotherhood for particular censure. “Some choose to describe the NDP as an authoritarian party while ignoring the fact that such a description best fits outlawed groups that take orders from a ‘supreme guide’,” he said.

The opposition sees this more as criticism of the ruling party. “These angry attacks showed up the party leaders’ own sensitivity to criticism,” said Al-Arian. “They reflected the NDP’s own insecurity.”

Ezz, a member of the NDP’s extremely influential policies committee and the country’s leading steel magnate, has himself come under heavy criticism in recent months. According to critics, Ezz has exploited his position in the government in order to monopolise the local steel market by obstructing promised anti-trust legislation.

While admitting at the recent conference that the NDP was “the party that supports the private sector,” Gamal Mubarak defended it from charges of unduly favouring wealthy business interests. “The NDP supports, but does not unfairly indulge the private sector, and everybody works in conformity with the rule of law – private sector included.”

Party leaders used the occasion to announce a handful of positive economic indicators, including overall gross domestic product (GDP) growth and improved national export earnings. At one point, the senior Mubarak stated that Egypt “would not be severely affected” by the current global financial crisis.

“By playing with the numbers, they tried to convince the public that the country is experiencing a measure of economic growth,” said Al-Arian. “But the average Egyptian, whose salary no longer comes close to meeting his everyday needs, no longer believes anything the party says.”

The government continues to face mounting criticism for failing to protect the public from rapidly increasing inflation rates, which continue to soar month-on-month. According to some estimates, as many as 40 percent of Egypt’s 80 million-strong population already lives on or under the poverty line, meaning they survive on a dollar a day or less.

“The declaration that the country wasn’t – and will not – be affected by the financial crisis could not possibly be believed by any rational person,” added Al-Arian.

The conference wrapped up with the adoption of new draft legislation, expected to be introduced in the upcoming parliamentary session. This includes laws ostensibly aimed at decentralising the performance of local councils, raising the quota of parliamentary seats earmarked for female representatives, and reforming labour union elections.

Commentators, however, say the proposed legislation does not contain anything particularly groundbreaking.

“The conference focused largely on economic and social issues, but refrained from tackling serious political issues,” said Rabie. “The handful of draft laws that were discussed don’t really represent anything new or important.”

The party congress also inevitably invited the longstanding question of presidential succession. For years, speculation has been rife that the 45-year-old Gamal Mubarak – who also heads the ruling party’s policies committee – is being groomed to eventually replace his aging father.

At a press conference, however, the presidential scion characteristically downplayed the issue. Constitutional rules governing the transfer of power, he said, “would be respected by all,” adding that “no party…could be expected to nominate a candidate for a presidential election still three years away.”

Nevertheless, the state media’s portrayal of the younger Mubarak at the party congress – in which he was shown playing a central if not leading role – raised eyebrows.

“Gamal Mubarak’s key role at the event – he sat at the centre podium at almost every session – was played up liberally by the official media,” Rabie noted.

But according to Al-Arian, the selection of Egypt’s next president ultimately lies outside the ruling party’s purview.

“The presidential succession isn’t in the hands of the party or of the conference delegates, but in those of the secret government that has governed Egypt since the 1952 revolution,” Al-Arian said without elaborating. “No one knows exactly who this government is made up of, but the security services are certainly a big part of it.”

 
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