AHEAD OF today’s deadline for candidate registration for Egypt’s November 28th parliamentary election, democracy activists have expressed alarm over the large number of members of the former ruling party who have joined the race.
While some have found places on party lists, to the dismay of party members, others are standing for the one-third of the assembly seats allocated to independents.
During the 30-year rule of former president Hosni Mubarak, his National Democratic Party (NDP) fielded candidates on its list while figures who were not allotted places won seats as independents, boosting NDP strength. These people became known as “NDP independents”.
Egyptians who overthrew the old regime regarded this as one of its most corrupt electoral practices.
Among those who have registered are businessmen who made fortunes during the Mubarak regime, former cabinet ministers and senior NDP figures.
Additionally, several parties founded by ex-NDP members will compete for the two-thirds of seats allocated to party lists. Among these is Hurriyeh (Freedom), established by the sons of a former NDP parliamentary speaker.
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights said more than half the candidates who registered early in the process were from the NDP.
Democracy activists blame the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which assumed presidential powers after Mubarak was ousted, for the reassertion of the NDP. Although the NDP itself has been banned, most of its members have not, permitting them to continue playing a part in political life.
Activists have asked the armed forces council to enact a treason law that would exclude former NDP members from taking part in politics for at least five years. Although it promised to study such a law, none has been adopted.
A number of members of the secular Wafd, the country’s oldest political party, have resigned from the party to protest at NDP candidates on its lists.
Muhammad al-Omda, a Wafdist from Aswan, told the Egyptian semi-official daily Al-Ahram: "The party believes these figures enjoy wide popularity in their districts, irrespective of the fact that they played a central role in corrupting political life over the past 30 years."
