Gamal Mubarak’s Call For Dialogue Met With Skepticism

Gamal Mubarak of the ruling NDP calls for dialogue, but all Egyptian opposition powers are skeptical about this suspicious call that comes shortly after passig the notorious constitutional amendments .‏
 
Gamal Mubarak, the assistant secretary-general of the National Democratic Party (NDP), declared that he will launch fresh tours of dialogue with opposition parties around the legislative agenda and service issues related to Egyptian citizens, under a new phase of national action that aims at reinforcing political parties .‏
 
Gamal Mubarak added, in a long meeting held on Friday by the NDP policies secretariat with Alexandrian leaders to explain health insurance policies, that the party will review constituencies to amend the number of voters numbers to keep up with the increasing population and proportional representation among governorates .‏
 
Gamal Mubarak said: There is a broad optimism nowadays regarding reform issues; we will focus during the coming years on direct public services, specially health and education .‏
 
Gamal Mubarak added: There is no backtracking from the wide-scale freedom provided in the Egyptian political life.
 
On the other hand, most political opposition leaders issued skeptical reactions regarding Gamal Mubarak”s call, especially that they are issued after passing the constitutional amendments despite the objection of all parties, political powers and civil society institutions on some of the amended articles, particularly articles 88 and 179 .
 
Dr. Essam El-Erian, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, said that Gamal Mubarak”s proposed dialogue with the parties will add nothing and will lead to same result of previous attempts, failure .
 
Al Erian added that bases of any serious dialogue should include an agreement between both parties, definitely not found between the Egyptian regime and opposition parties .
 
Al Erian cited previous attempts to hold a dialogue and were doomed to failure because they lacked factors for success; the Egyptian regime does not seek any serious dialogue; instead, it seeks only a symbolic dialogue to give legitimacy to its rule; if the regime is seeking a serious dialogue, why has it passed the constitutional amendments despite the opposition of all parties and political powers and all sections of the Egyptian society.
 
Al Erian demanded political parties to reconsider their stances and policies and that there should be a joint work plan among Egyptian political powers and parties to confront the tyranny of the Egyptian regime. 
 
NDP Targets Passing Own Social, Economic Policies Under Opposition Cover
 
For his part, Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, editor-in-chief of Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya and founder of the Democratic Front party (under construction) doubted Gamal Mubarak”s call for holding dialogues with political parties.
Al Ghazali said that Gamal Mubarak”s call for dialogue aims actually at containing the negative reactions of all opposition groups that united with the Muslim Brotherhood group on rejecting the constitutional amendments.
 
Al Ghazali pointed out that this is not a serious call, hinting that the parties took part in dialogues with the National Democratic Party for long years but they gained nothing from this; he added that the NDP had a chance during the constitutional amendments to show its goodwill to reach a national consensus around the constitution, but it, the NDP, missed this opportunity as usual!!!
 
Al Ghazali added that the National Democratic Party wants to pass its economic and social policies through a legitimate cover provided by the opposition that rejects these policies after the NDP passed the constitutional amendments under the nose of the opposition.
 
Describing it as shallow, Dr. Abdul Halim Kandeel, spokesman of Kifaya opposition movement, said that Gamal Mubarak”s call isn”t related to the political reality that Egypt is currently witnessing.
 
Kandeel added that Gamal Mubarak”s talk is divorced to the reality that rejects the NDP”s monopoly of power and its unilateral passing of the constitutional amendments; Kandeel confirmed that the aim of this dialogue is to confuse the currently discussed issues which aim at confronting the tyranny of the National Party.
 
Kandeel pointed out that the National Party tries to deal with the political powers and parties as if nothing happened! And that all the vote rigging and unilateral approving of the constitutional amendments are just a midsummer cloud after all Egyptian opposition groups closed ranks to drop 1971 constitution and all its various amendments, and prepare a new constitution that addresses the aspirations of the Egyptian people.