In his inaugural address to the new Parliamentary session, President Mubarak redefined the outlines of the constitutional amendments proposed by him, with the promise that these would be the biggest and most wide-ranging since 1980. Overall, these outlines make no much departure from those proposed in his electoral program, one year ago.

This time President Mubarak was more determined and more emphatically stressing that the new amendments should hit the targets and goals that escaped the drafters of amendments to Article 76, particularly with regard to the activation and enhancement of parties' participation in presidential election, let alone other amendments related to the regulation of legislative-executive relationship, control of presidential powers, expansion of the parliament's role and the resulting amendments to the electoral system.

It might be understandable for the President to refrain at this stage from articulating the amendments as he sees them, leaving space for discussion and participation by the legislature, parties and political forces. Yet it remains necessary to make public the proposed draft of the would-be amended clauses for comment on them before making their way to the parliament.

Definitely, the amendment of Article 76 is the core issue and real benchmark for how expanded or tightened reform would be. While the earlier amendment had shackled the Article with such restrictions that make candidature exclusively possible only for NDP. In the new amendments, it is not required to make the door wide-open for candidates of parties with no grass-root base nor parliamentary representation. Moreover, in operation of the constitutional right of equality, due consideration must be given to the right of independents, under specified conditions and controls.

The concerns voiced by the President that the amendments should not be a leap into the dark should not be overshadow the legitimate ambitions to break the stalemate that had, for a half a century, disrupted the progress of political life, paralyzing the lives and eliminating the hopes of several generations. It is no longer sufficient for the future outlook to extend only to two or three decades ahead , but even further beyond to involve comparison to global developments and to cope with the achievements made by other nations along the road of freedom and democracy.

By Salama Ahmad Salama
Al-Ahram Daily
November 26, 2006