Region | Egypt
Scandals shift balance of power in Egypt, experts say
A series of scams involving businessmen, close to the younger son of President Hosni Mubarak, has given the older members of the ruling party the chance to reassert their clout, according to observers.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 00:23 November 4, 2008
Cairo: A series of scams involving businessmen, close to the younger son of President Hosni Mubarak, has given the older members of the ruling party the chance to reassert their clout, according to observers.
"Unlike the case in the past conferences, the business tycoons who are close to Jamal [Mubarak's 44-year-old son] kept a low profile in this year's convention," Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at the Cairo-based Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said.
"Their stature has been deeply shaken by recent court trials involving senior business politicians of the party," he told Gulf News.
Hesham Talaat Mustafa, a real estate mogul and a prominent politician in the ruling National Democratic Party, has been charged with inciting the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai on July 28.
Mustafa, an ex-MP, has denied the charges. But his trial, due to resume in Cairo on November 15, has harmed the image of the ruling party.
Sunken ferry
More than two years ago, the party's creditability suffered when a ferry, owned by another influential member, sank in the Red Sea, with more than 1,000 people aboard.
Although a local court cleared ex-MP Mamdouh Esmail, the owner of the ship, of negligence, the ruling party has yet to recover from the damage. Egypt's chief prosecutor has appealed against the acquittal of Esmail, who is now living in the UK.
Ahmad Ezz, a 46-year-old senior politician in the ruling party, is scathingly criticised in opposition newspapers for allegedly monopolising the steel industry in Egypt.
"These scandals have played into the hands of the old guard in the ruling party," said Rashwan. "After all, Jamal Mubarak is widely seen as the one who has ushered businessmen into the top ranks of the party."
Mubarak Jr, who heads the party's influential Politics Committee, has been catapulted to political ascendancy of this country of 80 million over recent years.
Possible successor
He is often shown in state media touring the nation's poor areas and giving lectures about political and economic reforms. The opposition claims that he is being groomed to take over from his 80-year-old father. The Mubaraks have repeatedly denied claims of hereditary succession.
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