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Media Attacks by NDP against Parallel Parliament

The National Democratic Party (NDP) is studying a plan to besiege the parallel parliament which was formed by the opposition and former MPs in a clear message objecting to the results of the recent parliamentary elections.

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 The National Democratic Party (NDP) is studying a plan to besiege the parallel parliament which was formed by the opposition and former MPs in a clear message objecting to the results of the recent parliamentary elections. A state of anxiety prevailed among NDP members due to the seriousness of this parliament and its effect on the legitimacy of the current parliament.

The NDP aims at imposing media attacks against members of the parallel parliament by imposing pressures on private satellite TV channels to prevent the members of the parallel parliament from appearing on its programs or covering their activities which mainly aim at challenging the legitimacy of the so-called “elected” parliament. It threatens to impose punishments on the channels or close them if they refused to comply with the instructions on the allegation of violating the media covenant.

Those fears were reinforced as some representatives of the European Union pointed out that they would end the Egyptian-European partnership and link with it because of the development in human rights issues and democratic reform through negotiations between Egyptian and European representatives. This was interpreted as a beginning to internationalise the recent parliamentary election, while the NDP is worried about changes of responding to the calls of the parallel parliament.

However, Ahmed Ezz, Secretary of the NDP, does not seem worried about the formation of the parallel parliament. He tried to alleviate the fears of some NDP MPs, describing the opposition action in this regard as pointless and reflecting its confusion as it still did not fully understand their stinging defeat in the elections. He bets that disputes will start arising between those who called for the formation of the “parallel parliament”.

MP Reda Wahdan described this as a “political farce” and said: “The opposition should be aware that what it is doing is not legitimate” pointing out that the elections are over and the current parliament has already started its sessions, and that MPs got their membership cards and the “festival is over” as he put it.

MP Mimi El-Omda described the parallel parliament as “the parliament of the defeated” which aims at disrupting the NDP; however, he played down the implications on the NDP which he described as “big with its members and immense popularity.”

MP Fawaz Shahine stressed that the case is not about an elected and legitimised parliament and another illegitimate parliament that wants to impose its presence. The problem, rather, is in the trends of the parallel parliament which seeks to cause disorder and unrest at this stage. He stressed that Egypt is a state of institutions and cannot be affected by “absurd attempts” that are aimed at causing a state of political turmoil in the country.