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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Democratic milestones
By Ibrahim Nafie
The Egyptian parliamentary elections, the second round of which ended earlier this week, reflect positively, not only on the electoral process but on the progress of democracy in Egypt as a whole.
It was particularly heartening to see that voter turnout figures in the second phase of balloting were even higher than in the first phase. This trend towards broader public participation in the political process has been encouraged by the full judicial supervision of polling stations which has furnished an essential guarantee for the integrity of the voting process. That, in addition, more than 4,200 candidates competed for parliamentary office reflects a fresh vitality in political life in Egypt and belies the customary assertions to the effect that Egyptian society is apathetic.
Also encouraging, judging by the results so far, is that the forthcoming Peoples Assembly will reflect a broader spectrum of political opinion. A parliament monopolised by a single party is, inherently, incapable of performing its fundamental role. Its very exclusion of other factions or bodies of opinion shifts the locus of tensions between the various political forces into society at large, where the interplay remains unregulated and where the parliament becomes one of the rivals rather than the regulator between rivals that it should be.
In addition, the elections have already brought the victory of many new faces, including several representing the younger generation, while simultaneously ousting a number of parliamentary old timers, many of them established National Democratic Party (NDP) veterans. This injection of new blood, yet another strong mark of the integrity of the balloting process that, moreover, took place in an atmosphere relatively free of tension, is indicative of a powerful spirit of rejuvenation that extends well beyond the individual victors and losers. It represents a major step forward in our system of government, an affirmation that the opposition is an integral part of the political process and that the ruling party is not the sole and absolute operative in this system. This development has manifested itself in the official media, which was made available to opposition and independent candidates, marking, in turn, a profound shift towards the notion of a national media that is open to all shades of political belief, rather than merely the government view point.
On the other hand, the relatively high ratio of independents to political party candidates in this year's parliamentary elections suggests that the political parties, themselves, still lack a strong grassroots base. This applies in particular to the opposition parties, which, in the first and second phases so far, have gained a total of 9 seats, with the Wafd and Tagammu winning four seats each and the Nasserist Party only one. The ruling NDP, by contrast, has proved by far the strongest in this regard, having already won 55 and 49 seats in the first and second rounds respectively. It is ironic that, 23 years after the promulgation of the Political Parties Law, only the NDP, out of the 15 parties that are now vying in the political arena, has shown a capacity to garner significant popular appeal. The questions this brings to the fore with regard to the internal structures and dynamism of the opposition parties are ones that they will have to address with greater urgency as the country moves ever more rapidly down the path of democratic transformation.
This said, what this year's elections have demonstrated, above all, is the considerable success of the gradual approach to democratic transformation that we have adopted in Egypt. It is no small comfort to look back over the past 25 years to see the enormous progress we have made since this process began with the formation of the ideological "platforms", or manabir, within the Arab Social Union, the monolithic party of the statist system in the 1970s. And, in spite of the set back in 1981, only four years after the promulgation of the Political Parties Law establishing the right to form political parties, the rise of Hosni Mubarak to the presidency gave the process of democratic transformation renewed impetus, leading to the growth in the number of political parties in tandem with the increasing role of civil society. One of the primary reasons behind this renewed burst of democratisation was his government's drive to promote the principle of the sovereignty of law, which, for example, made it possible to declare the parliaments of 1984 and 1987 unconstitutional, to introduce major amendments to the electoral law, and to ensure full judicial supervision over the polling stations during the current elections.
The cumulative effect of the process of democratic transformation over this period has fundamentally altered the nature of government in Egypt. No longer does the political system ape that totalitarian mould that prevailed in many parts of the world during the Cold War and many instances of which can still be seen today. Egypt now has all the essential components of a stable democratic order, including an increasingly vocal opposition. And, if the opposition still has major internal problems to overcome on its way to becoming a more viable and effective partner in government, the progress it has been able to achieve under the current climate gives considerable cause for optimism. Indeed, I believe that once the opposition succeeds in establishing itself on a more solid and dynamic footing, the political system in Egypt will undergo a qualitative shift that will place it among the ranks of the world's most established democracies. It is important to stress in this regard President Mubarak's repeated affirmations of the importance of an effective opposition and his calls for a more balanced parliament.
Nevertheless, in spite of the remarkable progress our political system has seen over the past quarter of a century, the current elections have revealed that two problems need to be addressed. The first entails the incidents of violence, which if far less frequent and serious than in previous elections, require additional security precautions so as to prevent their future reoccurrence. The second is the need to fine-tune the documentation involved in the electoral process, such as the voter registration lists that should have been more thoroughly scrutinised and revised.
Related stories:
Ruling party 'out of touch' 2 - 8 November 2000
Tougher times for the NDP 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000
Election surprises defy pundits 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000
See Elections 2000
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