Monopolizing Power

This 17-page briefing paper outlines the sweeping powers that Egypt's Political Parties Law grants to the Political Parties Committee, a body dominated by the president and the ruling party, to license and suspend political parties. The law gives President Mubarak and the ruling party broad authority to choose who may compete against them and under what terms. In this paper, Human Rights Watch says that reform of this law is particularly important given the possibility that the government might bring back party-list voting, which would require voters to choose parties rather than individuals.