Egypt, but they are not allowed to gain enough strength to
threaten the seat of power. The New Wafd Party is the largest of
these. Its members, including Coptic Christians, businessmen,
former military officers, Islamists, and onetime supporters of
President Nasser, are mainly from the middle and upper classes.
Another opposition party is the Socialist Labor Party, which
has many members who support the development of a more
Islamic way of governing Egypt. There is also a mainly Marxist
party called the National Progressive Unionist Grouping.
President Mubarak can appoint a vice president, but it
is a telling indication of Egypt’s authoritarian political sys-
tem that he never has. Ever since he came to office with the
assassination of President Sadat in 1981, Mubarak has ruled
Egypt with emergency powers granted to him by Parliament.
These powers suspend many of the freedoms that typically
exist in a democracy and are justified on the grounds of
maintaining security within the country. Real threats to that
security, and certainly to the Mubarak regime, do exist, and
most of them are in the form of Islamist opposition. For
several decades now, that opposition has been Egypt’s most
serious political problem.