Secretary-General of the National Democratic party (NDP) Safwat el-Sherif said Thursday that President Hosni Mubarak, the leader of the party, is urging citizens to express their opinions on the proposed constitutional amendments.

Sherif said that there is no great difference between the vision of the NDP and the "legal" political parties concerning the amendments. "But the main problem lies in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood," Sherif said at a meeting with the NDP's Youth and Women's Secretariats.

"This group tends to use flowery, unrealistic slogans, conveying a faulty vision of power rotation and using religion for political ends," Sherif explained.

He made it clear that the NDP believed in the idea of power rotation through national will. It is people who, after all, elect their president and representatives at parliament, Sherif said. They should have a say in the new constitutional amendments, he said, calling on all citizens to live up to national responsibilities and voice their opinions.

The NDP Secretary-General said that the constitutional amendments came to strengthen the executive and legislative authorities and achieve further judicial independence.

A set of laws will be introduced after they are ratified, Sherif said.

He said some 1,600 NDP cadres would start Saturday a plan of action in governorate, explaining the philosophy and dimensions of the proposed amendments.