Most participants agreed on the urgent need to revive the role of political parties and address the financial and administrative problems that impede their performance.
Wafd Party representative Tarek Abdel-Aziz said the dialogue should be used to introduce amendments to political parties’ Law 40/1977 which “has made it difficult for the majority of political parties — particularly opposition ones — to act freely and compete in fair elections”.
He argued that the law’s stipulation that new parties have at least 5,000 members from 10 governorates limited the formation of new parties which, until relatively recently, were only required to have 1,000 members.
Abdel-Moneim Imam, head of the Justice Party, also wants the minimum membership quotas to be changed, from 5,000 to 3,000. He argues amendments to the law “should allow political parties with similar ideological backgrounds to merge in order to compete in parliamentary elections and gain seats.
Abdel-Aziz and Imam want the stipulation that new parties open a bank account with LE2 million to secure a licence to be cancelled.
Imam called for a committee to be set up “with the power to license political parties, solve their financial affairs and help resolve internal political disputes,” arguing that since president Anwar Al-Sadat’s 1977 decision to transform Egypt from a single-party to a multi-party system nothing concrete has been done to facilitate an environment in which political parties can act freely and positively.
“The restrictive policies of the last 50 years have allowed extremist religious forces like the Muslim Brotherhood to exploit the obstacles standing in the way of secular parties and spread their radical ideologies,” he said.
The Civil Democratic Movement — an alliance of liberal and leftist forces — has drafted a new political parties law which Imam says includes the provision that political parties with representatives in parliament or local councils receive financial support from the state.
Abdel-Aziz and Imam’s arguments were echoed by the dialogue’s General Coordinator Diaa Rashwan who said “the regulations need to be changed in order to revitalise political life and create a competitive democratic atmosphere ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2025.”
Under Article 8 of the current law, a committee — headed by the deputy chairman of the Court of Cassation and comprising six judges from the State Council and the Appeal Court — oversees the licensing of political parties.
“We have to replace this judicial committee with another that can take charge of regulating political parties from A to Z.” Rashwan also said he supported Imam’s proposal that political parties receive financial support from the government, and argued that political parties should be able to receive donations, invest in commercial activities, receive tax and custom exemptions, be allowed to publish newspapers and own television channels and online websites to present their political positions.
One reason for the ineffectiveness of most licensed political parties, according to Rashwan, is that they lack the resources to publicise their platforms.
“Thirteen party-based newspapers have been closed due to lack of funding,” he said.
Reform and Development Party representative Ahmed Amro argued that after a new constitution enshrining a multi-party system was passed in 2014, the 1977 political parties law “has become irrelevant”. He called for a completely new law “rather than a re-tweaking of existing legislation”.
Representative of 6 April Movement Amr Adel said the lack of trust between the state and opposition parties was responsible for the hegemony of loyalist parties over the nation’s parliamentary and political life, an argument Wafdist politician Yasser Al-Hawari echoed by pointing out that while leaders of opposition parties do not appear on television channels or in newspapers, the leaders of pro-government political parties are allowed to organise public rallies and are accorded blanket coverage on television channels.
“The state should deal with all political parties on an equal footing,” argued Al-Hawari.
“We have more than 100 licensed political parties but most of them are ineffective because of legislative and funding obstacles,” said Alieddin Hilal, rapporteur of the dialogue’s Political Committee. “We need to remove all the obstacles so democracy, which requires strong political parties, can take root.”
Announcing an extension to the scheduled debates, Rashwan said “amendments to the political parties law require more sessions so that a package of legislative recommendations can be agreed and then presented to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for consideration and implementation.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 May, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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