The Muslim Brotherhood has no legal or legitimate basis and hence it must be dealt with out of this notion, said Jamāl Mubārak, secretary of the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) Policies Committee and son of President Husnī Mubārak, in an interview with Rose al-Yousuf newspaper, published over four episodes.
Jamāl Mubārak said that during the recent parliamentary elections, there were attempts to twist the laws and exploit religion and religious slogans to have political gains, a matter which calls for a firm pause. There were also some practices in some constituencies that negatively impacted the political process and the elections in general, regardless of the gains achieved.
Jamāl continued that it is not exactly known why the law that openly prohibits the use of religion in election campaigns was not put into effect. Perhaps that law requires certain mechanisms to deal with this violation or maybe it already has the necessary mechanisms but they were not duly applied.
On other so-called moderate religious currents that have applied to the parties committee to set up a party like al-Wasat [Centrist], there has been much fuss on how to deal with it from a legal perspective.
This should act as a wake-up call to find ways of dealing with the phenomenon of upsetting the national unanimity about prohibiting the establishment of parties on religious bases. This also calls for the need to see political parties developing themselves to be able to stand up to this challenge, said Jamāl.
As for the Coptic file, the president has always been stressing the united fabric of the society and that its future prospects depend mainly on maintaining this coherence, which is a key feature characterizing the Egyptian society. There are, however, some powers abroad that work against Egypt and want to shake its stability, continued the president’s son.
It is true that Egypt has some problems and mistakes and the way to address them are not quick enough. There are varied opinions. Some say that the Christian brothers should have a larger representation in legislative councils, the government, and at the level of governors. Also in the elections some voices call for a "quota" for Christians, he added.
The majority of Christians, on the other hand, does not accept these "quota" calls, and views citizenship as the core and crux of any national activity. Political parties should shoulder its responsibility in this respect, said Jamāl Mubārak.
The NDP has been criticized by the press and intellectuals time and again for offering a few Christian candidates in the elections, but maybe in the future, the election system will allow political parties to back the candidacy of Copts so that the Christians may have a representation that is expressive of their presence in the Egyptian society.
In the NDP policies committee, for instance, there are Coptic members in the high council, but it must be stressed that they are there because of their contribution and efforts, not because of their religions. (Rose al-Yousuf, January 25, 2006)
