Addressing the Joint Parliamentary Session of the People's Assembly and the Shura
(Consultative) Council, President Hosni Mubarak stressed the importance of promoting the
march of democracy, enriching national dialogue and welcoming every opposite opinion urged
by national interest.
Mubarak congratulated the new Assembly on its first session, and voiced confidence that
the discussions, that will take place in specialized committees, will be objective and
constructive with a view to maintaining the best interest of the Egyptian people.
"I congratulate the members of the Assembly who won the confidence of the masses in a
clean electoral competition, the first in Egypt’s history to be carried out under
full judicial supervision. At all levels, this is a very significant step on the way of
political reform," Mubarak said. He stressed the importance for all parties to
review their ways of moving amongst the masses and their daily interaction with the people
with a view to becoming more expressive of its aspirations and more worthy of its
confidence. "Without strong effective highly credible parties on the political scene,
speaking of complete democracy will be difficult," expounded Mubarak.
I call upon all Egyptian national and legitimate parties to re-evaluate their previous
experiences during the recent elections, and to review and correct their performance
according to the lessons learnt from this experience and to revive their institutional
structure," Mubarak added. "I congratulate the masses of the
Egyptian people who responded to my call to go to the boxes and vote for whoever they
want, and to participate in decision making soas to elect a new parliament that expresses
the pulse of the masses and their feelings," said Mubarak. President Mubarak urges
MPs to shoulder their big responsibility in serving people and to live up to their
responsibility in serving the people, preserving public order, helping masses without
arrogance, complying with the rule of law, and getting down to the masses to know their
problems. The President said that representing the people is an honour surmounted by none.
On the foreign policy front, the president said jerusalem was a very sensitive issue that
the palestinian authority had no hand or authority to give it up.The israeli policies have
shed gloom on the future of mideast peace and israel has faced mass a palestinian
rejection of a violent occupation and tyranny, he said. Egypt will always be ready to
proceed with its pivotal role to activate the peace process and lead it to its objectives,
he added. President Mubarak said he was confident that deliberations of the new People`s
Assembly would be objective, constructive, in the interest of the nation and the people,
and would help deepen the Egyptian democracy march. Mubarak congratulated the Egyptian
parties, working under the cap of legitimacy, for exchanging dialogue away from resorting
to violence. The President said that he had to be frank and demanded the Egyptian
political parties to reconsider their approach to cater to the needs of the massess
through daily contact and dealings with the people in a bid to be more capable of
expressing the public ambitions and more qualified to gain the people`s trust. ``Without
strong and effective parties that enjoy high credibility among people on the political
action arena, it will be hard to speak of full democracy,`` Mubarak expounded.
President Mubarak called on the political parties to re-assess their experience according
to the results of the recent parliamentary elections, held in october. He said that such
parties had to reconsider their performance, adjust their position according to the
acquired lessons, upgrade their institutions, and pump new blood in their veins.
However, he said that the nation is still waiting for the intellectuals and residents of
urban areas to participate in the election process. Such categories used to harshely
criticise the fairness of the elections, it was logical that they turn to the ballots to
perform their duty towards the people and nation, he added. |
