To strengthen the parliament at the account of the government is a real reform and represents one of the virtues of the expected constitutional amendments.

We point out first of all to the fact that the social dialogue turned to be an effective political element. The saying of: "Speak of whatever you wish and the authority will do whatever it wants", has become of no avail. Events reflect the fact that giving more power to the parliament at the expense of the government, went on as a reform demand around which the society kept dialoguing recently.

During the People's Assembly (PS) 2005 elections, the main political parties' programs, including the NDP, referred to the necessity of amending the constitution in a way that the PS should have the right to offer confidence to the government as well as its right in withdrawing it without getting into the complicated procedures stipulated in the 1971 constitution. Some of these are to take the President's opinion and the call for a popular referendum.

Now, the prospected constitutional amendments would achieve that demand by giving the parliament a greater role to play in amending the budget, in setting the priorities, in approving the government's plan when formed and pulling it out without any need to hold a referendum.

Secondly we refer to the fact that effecting the principle of strengthening the parliament at the expense of the government comes as a remedy for the defect that stained the Egyptian political system since its modern formation. Since then, the executive power has the upper hand relation with the parliament. This case continued in the democratic parliamentary stage before 1952 and was cemented in the later phase.

What attracts the attention in such reform is that it would come as a qualitative shift of the political and social status quo. It opens the door for fresh practices the Egyptian society was not used for. All those procedures would pour into reinforcing the citizen's role being the target and key source of the political process via enlarging his participation role in the institutions of the parliament and the political parties.

Actually, the Egyptian political and social reality would get – when this reform is reinforced - into a framework of a limited authority controlled by the parliament.

By: Tareq Hassan
Al-Ahram
01/06/2007