I see that Egypt's government has decided to extend emergency law for another two years despite the ending of said emergency law being a key platform of Hosni Mubarak's 2005 "re-election campaign". So we should get a full three decades, at least, of a system in which "the police are authorized to detain people indefinitely without charges, refer civilians to military courts, close dissident publications and thwart demonstrations."
I think it's time for yet another seminar on whether Islamist movements can be democratic.
I don't recall that the National Democratic Party has ever claimed to be Islamic, let alone 'Islamist', even as an attempt to subvert the influence of the Muslim Brothers. Quite the opposite in fact. So, on that basis, do you actually mean 'Muslim', forgetting the Copts (and Shia?) also involved? Any identification of the NDP with religion (either radical or 'cultural') seems entirely spurious.
You're right about the rest though. Quoting from their website, the consitutional reforms listed are in direct opposition to their actions:
1. Enhancement of the role of Parliament in supervising the executive authority.
2. Trimming the President's exceptional powers granted him at times of emergency.
3. Reform of the electoral system to increase women's and political parties' representation.
4. Drafting an anti-terror bill to replace the emergency law.
5. Greater decentralisation to give the local authority more supervisory and executive powers.
6. Reinforcing the independence of the judiciary through: abolishing the Supreme Council for the Judiciary and abolishing the Public Socialist Prosecutor.
7. Formulating new laws in a way that is convenient to current conditions. This will open the way for the desired economic progress.
Posted by: Tim Stevens | June 03, 2008 at 02:43 AM