Cairo: Three decades after monopolising the politcal scene and power in Egypt, former president Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party is trying hard to revamp its image and survive in the post-Mubarak era.
With the bulk of its leaders quitting, the party, created by Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Al Sadat in the late 1970s, is being haunted by accusations of political and financial corruption.
Several former officials, mainly its former secretary of organisational affairs Ahmad Ezz, a steel baron, is standing trial at the criminal court, on charges of graft.
"The party respects the Youth Revolution (which forced Mubarak to step down) and its demands for democratic development, support for freedoms, boost of social justice and fighting corruption in all its forms," the board of the troubled party said in an apologetic statement this week.
Gathering at one of the few buildings belonging to the party, which narrowsly escaped torching in recent anti-Mubarak protests, the board now led by Mohammad Rajab, looked at pains to cope with new realities in Egypt.
"The National Democratic Party emphasises its belief in the civil state based on the principles of citizenship and equality," added the statement.
The party board, moreover, pledged to eliminate "any corrupt elements from its ranks" and restructure its decision-making hierarchy.
Sources inside the party, which until lat month was dominated by Mubarak's younger son Jamal, disclosed that the party is considering changing its name and not to field a candidate for presidency due next September.
"For the time being, the party needs overhaul in order to ovecome its image crisis," an official inside the party told Gulf News on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. "I think we have now to focus on rehabilitating the party ahead of the parliamentary elections."
The long-governing party won more than 90 per cent of the Egyptian parliament in controversial elections late last year. Opposition and poll monitors said at the time, the party was involved in massive fraud. A military council, which has been in control of Egypt since Mubarak was swept aside on February 11, dissolved the parliament.
"In view of the harm done by the National Democratic Party to the national interests, it must be dissolved," said Essam Al Islambuli, a lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against the party.
"As an Egyptian citizen, I have the right to and interest in having this party disbanded before it rearranges its ranks depending on the huge numbers of its loyals at local councils," he told this newspaper.
The party, which long dominated the media in Egypt, has come under fire from different directions including its mouthpiece newspaper for allowing Jamal Mubarak, a banker-turned-politician and his cronies "to tamper with destiny." Jamal was widely seen as a successor to his 82-year-old fater.
