Egyptian national dialogue could lead to more political freedoms

▶ El Sisi has welcomed recommendation by dialogue officials to extend the judiciary’s supervision of voting

After months of delay, Egypt’s national dialogue will begin on May 3 – a political milestone under President Abdel Fattah El Sisi that could bring more freedoms and inclusion to the most populous Arab nation.

Significantly, the outcome of the dialogue would set the tone for presidential elections due to take place next year, possibly giving candidates enough leeway to campaign freely.

Mr El Sisi, 68, has not yet announced whether he will run, although he is widely expected to do so and would be the favourite to repeat his 2014 and 2018 wins.

With a little more than a year to go, the election is already influencing the political scene.

On Monday night, Mr El Sisi welcomed a recommendation made by the dialogue’s board of trustees to extend the judiciary’s supervision of voting beyond the 10 years set in Egypt’s 2014 constitution, which expires in January.

“I reassure everyone that I will take into consideration what was discussed in yesterday’s session [by the trustees] in relation to the legislative amendment that allows full supervision by the judiciary of the election process,” Mr El Sisi wrote on Facebook.

“I have directed the government and relevant state institutions to study the proposal and the mechanisms of implementing it.”

Since Mr El Sisi’s call for the national dialogue 11 months ago, he has eased some government controls on the country, released at least 1,200 dissidents held in pretrial detention and allowed a carefully measured margin of freedoms.

Dissidents living in exile abroad have been allowed back into the country.

Families have in recent weeks been allowed to visit jailed relatives for the first time since their detention up to seven years ago, activists said.

Authorities have also restored access to some of the hundreds of independent online news outlets previously blocked.

Mr El Sisi, who wants the dialogue to chart Egypt’s political future, has said he will attend the proceedings at a later stage of the process.

He also pledged to adopt recommendations he deemed constructive for the building of a “new republic”, the phrase coined to refer to the Egyptian leader’s vision of a modern and efficient nation.

“Our party and other political forces participating in the national dialogue are working towards the creation of a democratic climate for the upcoming election,” said Yasser El Hodeiby of the Wafd party, one of the nation’s oldest.

Extending the judiciary’s supervision of elections, Mr El Hodeiby said, “guarantees the transparency of the voting process and puts the minds of the sceptics at ease”.

However, the moderately encouraging signs of a credible and competitive presidential election next year should not give rise to ambitious expectations like a change in leadership, said Negad Borai, a veteran rights lawyer and one of the national dialogue’s 19 trustees.

“But the election can be conducive to the emergence of new forces that defines the nation’s next political phase.”

Mr Borai’s hope for a credible vote next year is echoed by Mohammed Sadat, leader of the opposition Reform and Development party, who has been instrumental in the release of dissidents held in pretrial detention.

“We want to see a larger turnout and several candidates who compete against each other, regardless of their chance of winning,” he said. “We also want to end the distrust and conspiracy theories dominating the minds of Egyptians.”

Opposition parties, mostly disjointed and generally lacking a popular base to speak of, have not yet announced candidates for next year’s election.

A senior member of the largest opposition coalition – the Democratic Civilian Movement – said in-house discussions of the elections has begun, but remained at an early stage.

On Monday night, the coalition made a thinly veiled threat it would boycott the dialogue unless “agreed upon measures, particularly the release of political detainees, are completed”.

The movement has said not everyone on a list of pretrial detainees it submitted to the authorities have been released.

It also wants the government to make more goodwill gestures before May 3.

Mr El Sisi has not yet spoken in public about next year’s vote, but he has recently been making public appearances that resembled those of a politician on the campaign trail.

He visited the police academy to talk to cadets and their families, celebrated Mother’s Day at a well-attended and emotional event, and visited the new capital east of Cairo, where he shared a suhoor meal with workers after touring the city’s, Quranic centre. The site cost 800 million Egyptian pounds ($25.8 million).

Last week, he addressed 60,000 supporters at a rally to launch a programme to feed 25 million Egyptians during Ramadan. “God knows, I love Egypt very much,” he said.

Those participating in the national dialogue are working towards the creation of a democratic climate for the election

YASSER EL HODEIBY

Wafd party