Alliance-building begins in new Egyptian parliament

THE burden of an unfinished revolution on their shoulders, a new generation of politicians nervously took their seats in Egypt’s parliament, aware that even veterans of the assembly are entering uncharted waters.

The convening of the parliament yesterday is a significant benchmark in the timetable provided by the generals who took over from president Hosni Mubarak for the handover of power to a civilian administration.

It is also a step forward for Islamist groups on the road to becoming the strongest political force in the nations that experienced Arab Spring revolts. Islamists dominated elections first in Tunisia and now in Egypt, and Libya’s Islamists are also expected to do well in parliamentary voting set for later this year.

Many of those who won seats in Egypt’s first free election in six decades insist their lack of experience will not stop the new assembly recouping power and influence after decades in the grip of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.

Gamal Hanafi, first elected in 2005 as an independent, said: “Parliament in Mubarak’s time was oppressive and a joke at best. No-one could express his opinion truly. Laws were passed without any voting and the opposition was useless in the face of the monopoly of the NDP.”

But the first day was an anxious affair as the new deputies wondered how to play what promises to be a complex democratic game of shifting alliances. Shouting matches broke out over the nomination of the parliament speaker and there was palpable tension between Islamists and liberals.

“No-one is sure of anyone and there is general tension regarding the alliances that need to be forged,” said Mustafa Naggar, co-founder of the small, liberal Justice Party.

The Muslim Brotherhood – banned for years under Mubarak, whose trial on charges of conspiring to kill protesters is ongoing – holds almost half of the seats via its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), with the more hardline Islamist al-Nour party in second place and liberal groups placed third.

“The Brotherhood is acting exactly like the NDP,” said Mohamed Shabanah of the Revolution Continues alliance after observing the opening session.

It is unclear if the Islamists will form a single bloc in the parliament, which has a key role in drafting a new constitution ahead of a presidential election.

Many Egyptians suspect the army council that took power from Mubarak will seek to retain influence behind the scenes, even after a planned handover to civilian rule in mid-2012, but the Brotherhood is backing the military’s transition timetable.

Liberals are alarmed at the failure of non-Islamist parties to make alliances that can allow them to win leadership of parliamentary committees.

“We must forge alliances or we will be overwhelmed by the FJP and its sisters,” Mr Naggar told Margaret Azer of the long-standing liberal Wafd party.

She replied: “I am with you, Mustafa, but we must find a way to gain a sizeable bloc.”

The trepidation is refreshing for those who knew parliament under the now-disbanded NDP, which was held together by allegiance to the leader and the benefits it brought.

“Every two years the NDP parliamentarians would stand in the middle of the House and give the same mundane speeches as two years earlier, making the same arguments to support extending the emergency law,” said Mohamed Beltagy, a Brotherhood leader, referring to “security measures” repeatedly imposed under Mubarak.

The head of the Brotherhood bloc, Hussein Ibrahim, recalled his last day in the old parliament when Mubarak’s close ally, Fathi Sorour, addressed him from the speaker’s chair.

“‘Mr Hussein, you have the floor and we will miss you’. He said that to indicate I wouldn’t be elected again to parliament. But I responded, ‘Why, Mr Sorour? Will the NDP not elect you as speaker again?’

“It is ironic that Sorour is gone and I am here. But the lesson is that those in power can never be sure to stay in power.”