WATANI International
5 June 2011
As Egypt contemplates the upcoming parliamentary elections, the country is in… Political flux
It cannot escape the eye of any casual observer that Egypt is today in the throes of political flux. Under the new law for political parties, some 25 new parties have been founded or are in the process of foundation.
During the period which preceded the 25 January Revolution, political parties in Egypt—there were 24 of them—were generally characterised with political fragility. They lacked proper funding, and their interaction with the people in the street was feeble. Their ability to strive for freedom and democracy was thus severely hampered.
Too big, too strong
Not surprisingly, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which had been banned from political activity before the 25 January Revolution on grounds that no political activity based on religion was allowed, has today emerged as a serious contender on the political field. The movement formed a political party, the Justice and Freedom Party (JFP), with 9000 members, of whom 1000 women and 100 Copts. They announced that the party was a political entity totally separated from the MB which would now be free to focus on its religious and social activity. It must be noted, however, that the JFP is not the only Islamist party on the field; there is also the Wassat (Middle) party, and the al-Nahda (the Renaissance) party—but both do not represent the MB—as well as the Salafi al-Nur (the Light) party.
The JFP issued a document to outline its vision for political reform and for contending the upcoming parliamentary elections through forming coalitions with the various political parties on the field.
Watani took this issue to the experts.
Ali Leilah, professor of political sociology at Ain Shams University, told Watani that, given that independent finance is pivotal where parties are concerned, it is not clear how the FJP will be financed. Hypothetically, the party’s finances should be separate from those of the MB, but practically, their finances are intertwined since the FJP members are also members of the MB.
“It is not in the interest of any political party to form a coalition with the JFP,” Mr Leilah said. “The MB and its party are too big and organised to allow room for partners; other parties would just melt into the JFP,” he explained.
“Pre-25-January political parties,” Mr Leilah said, “might see coalition with the JFP as a good opportunity, but I do not think the new parties would accept to do that. If more MB parties would emerge, it would lead to various coalitions and fragmentation of votes.”
Benign power?
According to Abdel-Rahim Ali, who is an expert on Islamic groups, the MB have yet to define the basics upon which their party has been formed. They have to outline their view of such concepts as the ‘civil State’ and the ‘other’; and to set their perspective of culture, art, women and Copts. “Any party with a religious background,” Mr Ali said, “can afford to have no vision that may challenge religious perspectives.”
“Political parties do not form coalitions with the MB,” he said. “They realise that once they do so they stand to lose a lot. The Misryoun al-Ahrar (Liberal Egyptians) party, for instance, absolutely rejected the idea. Yet it remains the prerogative of the JFP to offer to form coalitions, and that of other parties to accept or decline.
For his part, Mohamed Mounib, head of the African organisation and human rights studies, told Watani the MB was the only organised group in Egypt. The other political currents, he said, announced their concerns about the early elections, and demanded a new Constitution first. But not the MB, which has said it would target 50 per cent of the parliamentary seats, according to Mr Mounib.
“The question remains, however, as to what sort of coalition the JFP is seeking. Do they envision partnering equally with the various other political parties, or will they be picky as to who they partner with?
“But I think,” Mr Mounib said, “that the MB would roundly refuse a civil State in Egypt, which suggests that the coalition thing is just another political manoeuvre to endow them with the benign image of willingness to share power.”
Not invited yet
The Wafd party was not contacted by the JFP for any coalition, Essam Shiha, member of the Wafd party’s higher council, told Watani.
“I am against coalition with the JFP,” Mr Shiha said. “Several parties attempted coalition with the MB before; the result was that they all lost. In 1984, Mr Shiha recalled, the Wafd made a coalition with the MB, which gave the latter an opportunity to be on the political scene on condition that it respects the Wafd’s instructions. But after the People’s Assembly was dissolved in 1987, the coalition fell. “To form such a coalition today,” Mr Shiha said, “we need enough guarantees. All MB coalitions ended bitterly for the other party.”
As to the Tagammu party, its vice president Amina al-Naqash said that the party calls for a civil State which upholds democracy and the rule of law, while the MB call for a religious State. Mrs Naqash said, however, that her party did not receive any invitation for coalition.
“Even if we receive such an invitation,” she stressed, “we will not accept any coalition since, for us, the State is a moral entity that can have no religion. All citizens should be free to practice their belief.”
Killing off the NDP
All the above debate is bound to bring to mind the fact that the only political bloc big or strong enough to contend with the MB’s political clout was the National Democratic Party (NDP), the ruling party under former president Hosni Mubarak. Last April, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled to dissolve the party and sequestrate its assets.
The NDP was formed in 1978 by President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated in 1981 at the hands of Islamist Jihadis. Sadat was succeeded as party chairman by Hosni Mubarak. For the past 33 years, the NDP played such a hegemonic role over Egyptian politics that it was often considered a de facto single party inside an officially multi-party system. The Policies Committee (PC) was established to enhance the status of the latter in Egyptian politics. Led by Gamal Mubarak, the toppled president’s younger son, and including several new guard figures, the PC was commonly viewed as a tool to groom the president’s son to succeed his father.
Many Egyptians welcomed the dissolution of the NDP. “The NDP spoilt the country’s political life over the decades, and it bears responsibility for the rigging of the 2005 and 2010 legislative elections,” Mustafa Kamel al-Sayed, political science professor at Cairo University and the American University in Cairo, says.
For her part, Mrs Naqqash told Watani she feared the court ruling might have been politically motivated.
“The 25 January Revolution called for equality and justice,” she said. “The latest court ruling to disband the NDP signified total exclusion of the party’s members, even though the party harboured a reformist group whose members should be offered the opportunity to form a new party.”
“In democracies, parties are never dissolved,” Mr Shiha opined. “Rather, they are left to die alone. In my view, the NDP breathed its last before the court ruling was issued.”