Egypt's Opposition Unites In Anti-Mubarak Campaign

October 15, 2009 11:00 a.m. EST

Several Egyptian political movements announced a campaign against the inheritance of power, in a bid to prevent incumbent President Hosni Mubarak from passing the reins of power to his son, Gamal.

The campaign was announced on Wednesday by long-standing opposition activist Ayman Nour.

The preparatory meeting for the campaign was attended by representatives from several parties and political movements, including the Egyptian Movement for Change, otherwise known as Kifaya (Enough) and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, as well as several other nascent parties and human rights organizations.

The campaign replicates a similar initiative that was conducted shortly before the presidential elections of 2005 with a similar grouping, Dr. Gamal Soltan, director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told The Media Line.

"In 2005, it got the issue of inheritance on the public agenda, but they haven't been able to mobilize a broad support for their cause," he said. "It's now an issue on the public agenda and I think the new grouping is trying to capitalize on the idea and take it from there. There's no indication that this campaign will be more effective than the previous one. We have to see if they can mobilize more support than the earlier attempts."

Nour, head of the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, was the strongest contender against Mubarak in the presidential elections of 2005.

In December 2005 a court sentenced Nour to five years in jail, charged with forging signatures to secure the formation of his party, but many viewed the sentence as politically motivated.

Nour was released in February 2009 on health grounds, although there is speculation that his release was a result of pressure from human-rights organizations and the U.S. government since his arrest drew wide international attention.

The campaign against Mubarak is part of wider efforts in Egypt to confront what many see as a corrupt and undemocratic government, headed by Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP).

Two weeks ago, the Kifaya movement announced it was planning to take Gamal Mubarak to court, questioning the sources of his wealth and the legality of his current official positions.

Gamal Mubarak, 46, is the younger of two of Mubarak's sons. He is currently the General Secretary of the policy committee in the ruling NDP and it is widely believed that the president is grooming him to be the next Egyptian president. This has drawn anger from opposition groups who do not want an inheritance of power.

Gamal Mubarak's critics say he has appropriated political titles without any right and without any provision in the constitution or Egyptian law and that he makes political and managerial decisions that only the president or the prime minister are entitled to make.

Hosni Mubarak has been in power since 1981 and has been accused of running an autocratic rule and criticized for human-rights abuses and failing to cancel the emergency law, which has been in place since he became president.

Opposition movements are particularly concerned with Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution, which places obstacles for any independent candidate and makes it virtually impossible to run without the blessing of the NDP.

The article stipulates that an independent candidate must receive the endorsement of 250 elected members from Egypt's representative bodies, which includes at least 65 endorsements from the People's Assembly, 25 endorsements from the Shoura Council and 10 Local Council endorsements.

The announcement was made at the headquarters of the Al-Ghad party. Nour said the participants had agreed on the broad outlines of the campaign and they will soon settle the details.

Nour stressed that the campaign was not just a media stunt.

"We will confront the power inheritance plans by all means, whether by use of legal action against the president's son or by appealing to the masses," he said.

The organizers accuse Gamal of attempting to seize power by force without any legal or constitutional legitimacy.

Nour said that around 10,000 people signed up for the campaign within two hours of its website going online.

The next presidential elections are scheduled to take place in 2011.