Most noteworthy about the Egyptian political scene is the fact that the struggle over waging the midterm renewal elections of the Shura Council, scheduled to be held at the beginning of next month, is taking place within the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), not between the party and any other political party. Opposition parties have years ago reached the conclusion that there was no use waging the elections for that council, which does not have much influence on decision-making or on exercising a monitoring role in the state, and that the focus should be on the legislative elections of the People's Assembly, which lays down laws, ratifies them, is entitled to hold the executive power to account and polarizes the attention of media outlets. The participation of political forces from outside the ruling party in the Shura elections will therefore be quite limited, or, to be more accurate, symbolic, so as for these forces not to be accused of refraining from political participation. On the other hand, the struggle goes on and intensifies in Egyptian cities, villages and neighborhoods among those affiliated with the National Party to gain the right of running as candidates on the party's list – to such an extent that quarrels and fights using fists, sticks and seats have taken place in meeting organized by the party under the banner of “electoral gatherings” to select candidates for these elections! And despite the fact that party leaders have repeatedly asserted that candidacy is subject to bases and rules, the same thing happens at every election, usually ending with those who were excluded by the party waging the elections against NDP candidates, the competition in numerous districts thus taking place between this party's candidate and another, independent yet bearing the same principles. Such candidates, if they are to win, always return to their constituencies intact, regaining their membership in the party, which in turn welcomes the MPs and their seats, and promises that this will not happen again in the next elections. In any case, the Shura Council elections will not take place in a raucous political climate, even if some districts witness disputes and battles, which will most often be struggles for family or tribal reasons. Thus politicians, between the NDP and the remaining political forces, most prominently the Muslim Brotherhood, remain prepared and ready to go upon the announcement of the start of candidacy applications for the People's Assembly elections, where the National Party will wage the struggle in phases: the first between its members who wish to run as candidates, the second between its candidates and the candidates of other political forces, and the third after the elections have ended, when it seeks to increase the number of seats it has obtained by drawing in the independents who waged the elections based on its principles. That is the political scene in Egypt which repeats itself at every election, and which reflects the ills suffered by both the ruling party and opposition forces. And despite much talk in opposition circles about change, the presidential elections scheduled for next year and the necessity of providing equal opportunity to compete for all candidates, the Shura Council elections and after them the People's Assembly elections do not indicate that the presidential elections will take place in a climate which all will find satisfactory. Then the opposition will reiterate its complaints and the NDP its responses, accusing other parties and the Muslim Brotherhood of exaggerating. Yet it is certain that the parties will find tremendous difficulties in putting forth candidates to compete for the presidential seat. The National Party, on the other hand, will not suffer from any internal struggle, as is the case in every parliamentary election. Indeed, the NDP candidate to the presidential seat will have no competition from any other candidate within the party, which will not find much difficulty either in ensuring that its candidate wins the presidency of the country, whatever the number of competitors or the nature of the competition itself.
