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### Viewing cable 05CAIRO7782, PDAS LIZ CHENEY'S SEPTEMBER 28 MEETING WITH GAMAL

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05CAIRO7782 | 2005-10-11 10:12 | 2010-12-13 21:30 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Cairo

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CAIRO 007782

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2015
    TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM EG
    SUBJECT: PDAS LIZ CHENEY'S SEPTEMBER 28 MEETING WITH GAMAL
    MUBARAK

    Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

    -------
    Summary
    -------

    ¶1. (C) In a September 28 meeting with PDAS Elizabeth
    Cheney, Gamal Mubarak, head of the NDP Policies Committee,
    reviewed his father's presidential election campaign, which
    he argued had been a major success. He also reviewed the
    ruling party's preparations for the upcoming parliamentary
    elections. PDAS Cheney reminded Gamal of the paramount
    importance that the USG places on international monitoring
    and urged him to use his influence to encourage the GOE/NDP
    to undertake other concrete improvements in the electoral
    process. Significant improvements in the parliamentary
    elections, the PDAS noted, would be crucial to continuing
    Egypt's democratic reform progress. End summary.

    --------------------------------------------- ----
    The NDP's Campaign Architect Reviews His Creation
    --------------------------------------------- ----

    ¶2. (C) PDAS Cheney, joined by DAS Carpenter, Charge, and
    poloff (notetaker) met with Gamal Mubarak on September 28 to
    discuss Egypt's political reform progress. Gamal opened the
    meeting with questions about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
    PDAS Cheney updated Gamal on cleanup and recovery efforts and
    thanked him for GOE relief supplies. The Charge noted that
    Washington had been gratified by the speed of the GOE airlift
    to supply water, blankets, and other items.

    ¶3. (C) Turning to the September 7 presidential election,
    Gamal noted that he and his NDP colleagues had been working
    on the campaign since the end of June, when President Mubarak
    had indicated that "he wanted a proper campaign team." Gamal
    said the team, which included Ahmad Ezz and Mohammad Kamal,
    used focus groups and polling to fine tune the President's
    message. After the campaign team devised a "credible
    program," which the NDP "simplified" to address focus group
    concerns, the party used the campaign period (August
    17-September 3) to reach out to voters.

    ¶4. (C) Gamal noted that his father had directed the party
    to "run a positive campaign," and to respond only to attacks
    that misrepresented policy. Gamal attributed the NDP's
    success to a packed schedule of campaign events (nearly one
    major event per day) along with DVC outreach to provincial
    party leaders, and personal letters from the President to
    each of the party's 7000 "basic unit leaders" (i.e., precinct
    bosses). According to Gamal, the precinct bosses were
    "absolutely crucial" and the "backbone" of an effort to "fire
    up" youthful NDP voters. In response to a question by the
    PDAS, Gamal said that his father had much enjoyed the
    "intensity" of the campaign as well as his engagement with
    party activists. Gamal said that the final event of the
    campaign, the closing rally at Abdeen Palace in Cairo, had
    been a "big success," since it linked the President to key
    episodes in Egyptian historical memory.

    ¶5. (C) The PDAS noted the USG's continuing encouragement of
    the GOE to invite international observers, and pressed Gamal
    to identify areas that he though could be improved in future
    elections. Gamal described Egypt's outdated and incoherent
    voter lists as "not a huge issue," but noted that cleaning
    them up would be a long-term project. He blamed the low
    turnout of the presidential election (about 7 million voters
    or 23 percent) on overzealous judges supervising the
    September 7 ballot who had, allegedly, refused to allow more
    than one voter at a time into polling stations, and thereby
    diminished turnout. "We were aiming for at least nine
    million voters, but many people went home without voting
    because of the queues," Gamal said.

    ¶6. (C) Gamal termed the controversy over domestic observers
    on election day as "a huge mess," and noted that the party
    had tried to play a constructive role on this issue, behind
    the scenes, despite the obstructionism of the Presidential
    Election Commission and some of the judges. The PDAS
    reiterated the USG's views on international monitors and
    urged him to use his influence in support of both
    international and domestic monitors.

    -------------------------------------
    Plans for the Parliamentary Elections
    -------------------------------------

    ¶7. (C) Turning to the parliamentary elections, which will
    be held in three stages beginning on November 8, Gamal said
    that a central difference with the presidential campaign
    would be that campaigning for the 444 parliamentary races
    "would be the party's effort, not the President's." The
    President plans to campaign on behalf of some candidates,
    however and the Party plans to use the same Heliopolis
    campaign headquarters and core team, although this team will
    be "adjusted for the battle."

    ¶8. (C) The PDAS asked how the party plans to select its
    candidates. Gamal noted that the party's selection process
    hadn't worked in the past, since it permitted candidates with
    deep pockets to win the party endorsement even if they were
    not able to win at the polls. (Note: In the 2000 elections,
    official NDP candidates won less than 40 percent of the
    seats. Most winners were so-called "NDP independents" who
    had not managed to secure the party's endorsement but
    nevertheless prevailed at the poll and eventually rejoined
    the party, thereby giving the NDP its lock on Parliament.
    End note.)

    ¶9. (C) Gamal provided an overview of the new process. He
    said that the party would hold "primaries" during the first
    week of October, which would assemble precinct bosses and
    other grass roots leaders to bet potential candidates. Gamal
    said that in addition to this popularity contest, the party
    would use polling, analysis of the voting in the presidential
    election, and a "software" analysis to create a single
    consolidated party slate of candidates.

    -------------------------------------------
    But How Will They Be Better than Last Time?
    -------------------------------------------

    ¶10. (C) Gamal said that the parliamentary elections would
    be "both messier and easier" than the presidential election.
    The PDAS pressed Gamal to suggest steps that the GOE could
    take in the next few weeks to demonstrate its commitment to
    political reform. In response to the PDAS's inquiry about
    the GOE utilizing transparent ballot boxes in place of the
    existing wooden boxes, Gamal described them as "cosmetic."
    For Egypt, he said, the key is judicial supervision. Gamal
    also dismissed alleged problems with indelible ink, multiple
    voting, and voting by unregistered citizens. All of these
    allegations, he said, were "unfounded."

    ¶11. (C) More important, he argued had been the information
    deficit. Voters had sometimes not known which polling
    stations to report to, and the lists of registered voters had
    not been widely available ahead of time. Improving the
    available information about the polling station locations and
    access was Gamal's highest priority. "If I was in charge,"
    he said, "this is what I'd do."

    ¶12. (C) The PDAS ask Gamal about the period after the
    parliamentary election. He replied that Egypt's unregistered
    voters were now excited about politics and enthusiastic to
    register to vote in future elections, when the registration
    period opens in late 2005. The PDAS asked if any opposition
    party would get the five percent of the parliamentary seats
    need to field a future presidential candidate. Gamal
    shrugged and replied that this would depend on the opposition
    parties' organization and discipline. Might the GOE revise
    Article 76 again, the PDAS asked, if an opposition party
    failed to get the required five percent? Gamal replied that
    talk of additional modification of Article 76 was premature:
    "the ink is not yet dry," he said.

    ¶13. (C) He also argued that the special candidacy rules in
    2005, to encourage multiple presidential candidates, could
    not be extended in future elections. The somewhat less
    restrictive rules for 2005 had been necessary, he said, as an
    incentive to the parties to "get their acts together." In
    the long term, however, encouragement of fringe candidates
    who do not have significant parliamentary representation
    would be a recipe for "chaos."

    ¶14. (C) The PDAS sought Gamal's views on rumors that the
    President plans to appoint a vice president. Gamal professed
    ignorance on the subject. Should the President appoint a VP,
    the PDAS asked. Gamal paused for a moment then said some
    people argue the President should name a Vice President,
    while others say that the new amendment to the Constitution
    makes a vice president unnecessary. Gamal said, "I listen to
    both arguments."

    --------------
    A Man in Full?
    --------------

    ¶15. (C) At Gamal's invitation, the PDAS and DAS later
    attended the gala reception on September 29 hosted by the NDP
    for the diplomatic corps on the occasion of the party's
    annual conference. Members of the diplomatic corps,
    including the Iranian Ambassador, gathered around Gamal vying
    for his attention and the opportunity to shake his hand.
    Party old-guard figures Kemal al-Shazli and Safwat Sherif
    stood together off to the side while Gamal was clearly the
    center of the show. Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Maghrabi,
    told the PDAS that members of the new guard received loud and
    prolonged applause whenever they took the podium at the party
    congress. The reception for old guard figures, by contrast,
    was muted and polite. Judging from this, Maghrabi said, "I
    don,t think the old guard will be with us much longer."

    ¶16. (U) PDAS Cheney cleared this message.

    RICCIARDONE

`