EGYPT - Dec 26 - Mubarak Presses For Democratic Change.

Pres Hosni Mubarak, asks parliament to consider proposals for amending 34 articles of the constitution with the purpose of "opening wide the doors to democracy and its practice". The changes appeared tailored to give some space to the country's extremely weak legal opposition parties while still barring the way to the far more popular, but illegal, Muslim Brotherhood. One of the proposed changes would enshrine in the constitution the ban on the Brotherhood by including a prohibition on parties based on religion. The amendments would also make it easier for legal political parties to run candidates in presidential elections, though the details of the changes have yet to be spelled out. At the moment only parties which have five percent of the seats in parliament can compete in presidential elections. Only Mubarak's ruling party meets this condition. Critics charge that the aim of this amendment is to organise the succession of Mubarak's son Gamal through a process that looks democratic, but in reality involves a race against weak challengers who pose no threat. Gamal Mubarak has repeatedly denied that he has any presidential ambitions and ruling party officials say the aim of the constitutional changes is to energise political life. The president also spoke about changing the electoral rules. Many in Egypt believe this will mean the adoption of a list system which favours parties and disadvantages the independents who stand for the Brotherhood and who managed last year to capture an unexpected 20% of the seats in the assembly. "This will consolidate dictatorship and cause us to regress", said Muhammad Habib, the deputy leader of the Brotherhood. Mubarak has also proposed sharing some of his extensive powers with the PM and giving parliament the right to propose amendments to the budget and withdraw confidence from the government. But critics say these are limited changes which will do little to chip away at the vast powers wielded by the president and the executive. Mubarak, however, described the amendments as "a historic step even if their impact might not be felt over the short term". The final shape of the constitutional amendments will only become clear after parliamentary debate, but one change which is likely to prove controversial is that which calls for elections to be held in one day rather than over the customary three. It means there will not be enough judges to supervise the poll. In last year's election, judges in many constituencies defied the authorities by revealing fraud, mostly against Muslim Brotherhood independents. "They want to guarantee that election rigging will not be uncovered", said Hesham Bastawisi, a senior judge. "They will exclude those judges who rejected fraud last year and who stood up against it".