The revolutionaries of the 18-day uprising that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak had more than just the president in their sights – they hoped to bring down the entire corrupt system. Now, the presence of figures from Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) in public life continues to infuriate them.
Former stalwarts of the now-banned NDP party are personae non grata at almost any post-Mubarak revolutionary conference. Over the past week, their participation has caused conflicts at least three major conferences dedicated to discussing the path forward, in one case even dissolving into a fistfight.
But it is more than just conferences that many activists want NDP figures banned from. Many are calling for a ban on NDP figures from post-Mubarak politics.
“As prominent members of the former ruling political party, they do not fulfill one of the major conditions to be eligible for high political office in Egypt, ‘being known as someone with an upstanding morality and a good track record,’” said Appeals Court lawyer and activist Essam al-Islambouly.
Islambouly was one of the first to bring a case to court regarding banning former NDP members from political life when he requested that newly appointed governors who were active with the NDP be removed from their positions.
“They helped ruin the country,” he said.
Tunisia, the first Arab country to revolt against its authoritarian ruler this year, set many precedents in the so-called Arab spring. Now, Egyptian activists hope to emulate Tunisians' decision to ban members of former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's ruling party from participating in elections scheduled for July.
“It is perfectly normal for members of the ousted ruling party to be banned from political life for a certain period of time after any revolution,” said Mohamed Mahsoob, a long-time activist and the acting dean of law at Monufiya University. “It happened in almost every revolution, as recently in Romania, Tunisia, even in Egypt, ‘52.”
Mahsoob has joined calls for the current government to ban leading NDP members from running for office for the next five years and second-tier members from political life for three years.
These prominent pundits, politicians and legal experts say it is important to exclude NDP members from the coming government because it will be charged with writing a new constitution and setting the scene for a new president.
The coming parliament will also have great symbolic significance as the first following Mubarak's rule. Mahsoob, like other activists, objects to their inclusion in dialogue even in the current interim period.
“It’s a joke,” he said.
In April, a court order the NDP dissolved on grounds of corruption. Many believe this is ample reason for a decision to ban its members from politics.
Islambouly says a straightforward legal mechanism can be used to ban them from public life. The April court ruling sets sufficient precedence, he says, allowing him to object to the appointment of NDP members in high-ranking positions.
Islambouly intends to raise specific lawsuits whenever the government decides to appoint former NDP members to important government posts.
But a blanket ban on participation of NDP figures in government would likely require a decree from the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). This was the case in Tunisia, where the interim prime minister announced the suspension of leaders of the formerly ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) a little more than two months after a court dissolved the party.
“[The SCAF] would be responding to the revolutionary legitimacy and popular demand. It would not be an infringement of the Constitution as a result,” Mahsoob said.
Despite by all accounts a convicted party, some former NDP members are not guilty or even suspected of any illegal activities.
“There were many NDP elements that were good and not corrupt. Why do we have to exclude them? They can join other parties and benefit the country,” said former Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Bassiouny in a recent television interview.
“Those who are guilty of corruption are in jail or being prosecuted,” he added.
Activists, however, still see an issue with symbolic nature of their participation. And for many, their presence in the party makes them guilty by association.
“They have joined and participated with a party that has corrupted the ruling system in Egypt,” Islambouly said. Legally, he only needs to refer back to the court order dissolving the party as evidence.
In general, the call for excluding NDP members is separate from corruption cases. This is a call for exclusion, not prosecution.
The practical issue involved with banning senior NDP members involves the ability to make dormant one of the more far-reaching political mechanisms in the country. It is a force that has been used to disrupt political life during the last few elections with a network of thugs, informants and employees.
But banning NDP figures from running still leaves big questions. Its countrywide network could be used to disrupt the coming elections or continue corrupting political life in Egypt if they feel that would be in their interest.
“They are already trying to ruin the revolution by disrupting everyday life in many parts of the country. Either way there will need to be precautions keeping them from causing disruptions,” Mahsoob said.
The NDP boasted that around three million Egyptians carried party membership cards. If true, that would make it impossible to remove them all from public life. This kind of move may also have far-reaching implications if recent history is any guide.
Shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the US administrator, who was effectively Iraq’s interim government, ordered the firing of around 150,000 government employees and civil servants who belonged to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. As the policy extended to the military, unemployment increased, leading to more crime and a loss of productivity.
The NDP was not as far reaching and hegemonic as the Baath Party, but it is significant enough that legislators and activists are taking into account party members’ reactions if a great deal of them are blacklisted.
Many see the removal of the NDP from public life in Egypt as due course for the revolution. Its full implementation, however, lies not with revolutionaries but with the SCAF.
