In popular Egyptian colloquial speech, one says about someone that they are “living with themselves”, meaning that they care only about their own affairs and do not concern themselves with others, even if they are connected to them in one way or another, or have an influence on their lives. In Egyptian domestic politics, it seems as if the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) is “living with itself”, as its behavior, conduct and policies have shown that it was alone on the field, and that no one competes against it for power, influence or the elections. Regardless of the statements of major figures of the party about the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled on the 28th of this month, in which they greatly stress the NDP's concern for the fairness, transparency and clean nature of the elections, all of them statements that fall under PR (Public Relations), the party does not seem greatly preoccupied with competition against other political forces. In a clearer sense, it considers only itself and does not take into account its partners on the political scene, as if it had guaranteed that it would win the majority of seats in Parliament. Yesterday, the NDP finished the greater part of what had been keeping it busy for the past few weeks, as it submitted its candidates' applications to the parliamentary elections candidacy acceptance committees, this being the first time that the party submits applications without the candidates in person. Such a step has come to resolve a recurrent problem it had been suffering from at every past election, concerning the large numbers of its members who would leave the party and resort to submitting documents for candidacy as independents competing against NDP candidates, after having been excluded from its candidacy lists. And every time, the number of winners at the elections from among independent candidates (former NDP members) would always be greater than the number of those who had won seats by waging the elections as official NDP candidates. It is true that the majority of such winners would return to be members of the party, which would give its blessing to their return in order to ensure majority in Parliament. Nevertheless, the issue has remained the object of severe criticism on the part of all forces. It also reveals poor selection of candidates at times, or the party's inability to support its candidates against former NDP members at others. This time the party has resorted to a new method, so as not to compete against itself, and in order to deprive those excluded from its lists of the possibility of candidacy! It has thus submitted applications immediately before the end of the period of application for candidacy, depriving of the opportunity to run as candidates those excluded from its lists, left with no choice but to support the candidates selected by the party. Noteworthy is the fact that the NDP seeks to suggest that the process for selecting candidates was subject to standards regarding good reputation and popularity, having adopted the method of “electoral compounds”, where members of the party elect their candidate from among several in each district, in addition to the names of those wishing to run as candidates being listed based on their reputation and qualifications. However, some people in particular, especially Ministers in the current government, have “won uncontested” at “electoral compounds”, and have become, even before the start of the period of application for candidacy in the parliamentary elections, NDP candidates in their districts, thus considered in several districts in Egypt to have won their seats in Parliament even before the elections have been held. The ruling party in Egypt has been busy with itself over the past period, as if it had been alone on the scene. Some of those who have “won” and gained candidacy in the elections on NDP lists did not hide their joy at the mere fact of waging the parliamentary elections under the protection of the party, without consideration for the fact that the real battle in the elections has not yet taken place and that voting day is on the 28th of this month and not before that. All of these interactions reflect the problem of the regime and the ruling party in Egypt, and assert that there is the deeply entrenched belief among some that the single-party system has only changed in form, that the “Socialist Union”, the political party of the Nasser era, turned into the Misr Party under Sadat then into the National Democratic Party under President Hosni Mubarak, and that the other parties remaining are only there to complete a picture it is too late to correct. Nevertheless, it seems that all parties to the political game are satisfied with the picture as it is now, as neither the ruling party, nor opposition parties and forces, are willing or able to change the picture, for fear of being dropped out of it. Indeed, the current situation is a plague on all parties, as they cannot guarantee the truth of their capabilities if complete democracy were to prevail… so why take the chance?
