The National Democratic Party (), often referred to in Egypt as simply the National Party (), was the ruling political party in Egypt from 1978 to 2011. It was founded by President Anwar Sadat in 1978. The NDP wielded uncontested power in state politics, usually considered a de facto single party, with authoritarian characteristics,Jason Brownlee "Authoritarianism in an age of democratization", p. 124Marina Ottoway: Egypt: From Semi-Authoritarianism to One-DimensionalityQantara.de inside an officially multi-party system, from its creation until the resignation of Sadat's successor Hosni Mubarak in response to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

The National Democratic Party was an authoritarian centrist party. From its inception, it was by far the most powerful of the parties to emerge from the Arab Socialist Union (ASU), the former ruling sole party since 1962, and was as such seen as its organic successor. In contrast to ASU's strong emphasis on Arab nationalism and Arab socialism (Nasserism), the NDP developed into a moderate centrist party. The NDP was a member of the Socialist International from 1989 until it was expelled in 2011 in response to the revolution. The party was dissolved on 16 April 2011 by court order, and its assets were transferred to the state.

Electoral system in Egypt under the NDP

The electoral system in Egypt, under which the National Democratic Party operated, did not meet internationally recognized standards of electoral democracies. According to the Freedom House, the political system was designed to ensure solid majorities for the ruling NDP at all levels of government. In 2009, Dr. Ali El Deen Hilal Dessouki, Media Secretary of the NDP, described Egypt as a "pharaonic" political system, and democracy as a long-term goal. Although former President Hosni Mubarak himself boasted shortly before his deposition from power that Egypt enjoys "all kinds of democracy," substantive democracy and civil liberties within the country remained elusive. In the 2000s, it was stated that "The truth of the matter is that participation and pluralism are now at lower levels than at any time since Mubarak assumed the presidency in the wake of Anwar Sadat's assassination." In 2010, Freedom House ranked Egypt's Political Rights Score at 6 and Civil Liberties Score at 5, with 1 being the freest and 7 the least free.

Until Mubarak's deposition, Egypt had operated under a "state of emergency" for all but five months since 1967, allowing the president to outlaw demonstrations, hold detainees indefinitely without trial, and issue law by decree. Generally, emergency law provides the government with the authority to control every level of political activity, including that within the confines of the formally defined political arena. The duration of the law is three years, but was routinely renewed. The trend began when President Gamel Abdel Nasser succeeded in establishing a state of emergency in 1956, following the invasion of Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel, and continued until 1963 on the basis of the continuing threat of an offensive against Egypt. Nasser declared another state of emergency in June 1967 because of the Six-Day War, which lasted through the War of Attrition, the October War, and the later years of Anwar El-Sadat's presidency, which were characterized by significant political, economic, and social upheaval and discontent. In total, the state of emergency declared during the 1967 war lasted for 13 years. After Sadat's assassination on 6 October 1981, his Vice-President and successor, Hosni Mubarak, declared another state of emergency, which he kept in place for the entire duration of his three decades in office.

President Mubarak argued in his Presidential Public Address in 1998 that the emergency law is required "in order to confront terrorism [and] protect democracy and stability." In practice, however, the law was used to not only control and contain terrorism, but to limit legitimate oppositional political activities. For example, campaign gatherings require prior permission from the Ministry of Interior under the emergency law. Thus, when a candidate plans to hold a public meeting, he must submit an application to the local police station stating details such as the date, location, and estimated size of the gathering. The application is then sent to the Ministry of Interior for consideration, and can be rejected.

The People's Assembly, which is usually characterized as the lower house of Egypt's quasi-bicameral legislature, is constitutionally empowered to question and even challenge presidential authority. However, that it chose not to do so cannot be attributed to the unanimous approval of presidential policies. In actuality, the People's Assembly was restricted to the role of rubber-stamping presidential authority because it is confined by presidential powers beyond its control. Under Article 152 of the 1971 Constitution, the president was able to have his proposals bypass the People's Assembly and have them endorsed directly through a referendum. Consequently, it is impossible for the Assembly to consider or reject the policy once approved in this manner.

The President of Egypt, however, rarely needed to resort to referendums except in circumstances where it is a formal requirement, such as initiating constitutional changes. Article 152 was seldom used because there was no reason to do so. The majority of legislation passed through the People's Assembly was initiated by the President, and almost all of the President's proposals were passed by the mandated two-thirds' majority with little to no deliberation at all. Academics and analysts observed that talk of democracy and liberal reforms from Egypt's leaders was spurred by a desire to garner internal and external legitimacy; however, these reforms lacked the substance needed to open the way for meaningful democratic change. Dr Augustus Richard Norton of Boston University wrote in 2005 that:

Certainly, the discovery of a democratic vocabulary does not stem from idealistic conversion, but from pragmatic conclusions about the need to relieve pressure and vent political steam, as well as the shrew recognition that democratization wins favour. ... The new language of politics in the Middle East, talks about participation, cultural authenticity, freedom and even democracy. No doubt, the defining flavor of the 1990s is participation.

Elections and apparent multi-party political systems offer authoritarian governments this opportunity for "democracy by decree." However, regimes that adopt these (electoral) systems, called competitive authoritarianism or illiberal democracy, "tend to impose a number of constraining conditions in order to ensure that the arena of the political contest remains under their stringent control. The laws regulating the licensing of opposition parties, for example, always demand a public commitment to the existing political order and the substantive acts of the regime." These were the conditions under which the National Democratic Party in Egypt were formed in 1978, lasting until its dissolution on 16 April 2011 by court order.

History of the National Democratic Party Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952–1970)

Prior to the introduction of a multi-party political system in Egypt, there was single-party rule (Although there was political party life before 1953 during the Kingdom of Egypt). Gamel Abdel Nasser rejected the idea of establishing alternative political parties at the establishment of the Republic of Egypt in 1953, instead opting to establish a single-party system in which interest groups were organized along functional lines and co-opted within the framework of an official representative body. This body was known as the Liberation Rally (LR) from 1952–1956, the National Union (NU) from 1956–1962, and the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) from 1962–1976. President Nasser's weariness of the multi-party system instituted by the colonial powers is rooted in his experience of British-dominated Egypt, where Britain manipulated the political parties and voting mechanisms to secure policies favourable to the British and the local Egyptian feudal system. As a result, revolutionary leaders were wary of continuing this system. President Nasser in 1957 said publicly:

Can I ask you a question: what is democracy? We were supposed to have a democratic system during the period 1923 to 1953. But what good was this democracy to our people? I will tell you. Landowners and Pasha... used this kind of democracy as an easy tool for the benefit of a feudal system... the peasants would cast their votes according to the instructions of their masters... I want to liberate the peasants and workers both socially and economically... I want the peasants and workers to say "yes" and "no" without any of this affecting their livelihood or their daily bread. This, in my view, is the basis of freedom and democracy.

The Liberation Rally was not intended to serve as a political party, although it functioned as a party for all intents and purposes. In fact, the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), and in particular President Nasser, stressed the contrary. The new regime's perspective was to harness all leaders' energy and not dissipate it through parliamentary debates. The Liberation Rally's motto was "United, Order, and Work," intended to create a "popular base for the new regime, to mobilize and unite people around the new elite and confront and neutralize former politicians."

Liberation Rally was dissolved in 1956 and reorganized as the National Union party to accommodate President Nasser's growing pan-Arab rhetoric. This shift coincided with the establishment of a new constitution and with the union of Syria and Egypt in 1958, which formed the United Arab Republic (UAR). Between 1949 and 1955, Syria had witnessed five changes of leadership, and by the late summer of 1957, the country was on the verge of complete collapse. The communists were among the most organized political actors in Syria in the late 1950s, leading to increased fears of a communist takeover. To prevent this outcome, the Syrian Government under the Ba'ath Party requested full unification with Egypt. Nasser was reluctant to enter a rushed union, but given the severity of the concerns regarding the Syrian communists, agreed to the establishment of a federation between Egypt and Syria, with its capital in Cairo, administered by the same institutions that governed Egypt. The agreement to establish the United Arab Republic was made on 1 February 1958. The National Union party was designed and used by Nasser to include and co-opt Syrian political actors into the Egyptian state apparatus.

The Egyptian union with Syria unravelled on the morning of 28 September 1961, following a military coup. The coup leaders also expelled all Egyptians from the country. Nasser believed that one of the reasons why the UAR failed was because the degree of social reform necessary for such an ambitious project had not matriculated. Therefore, he increased the socialist nature of his government's policies. In 1962, Nasser disbanded the National Union and replaced it with the Arab Socialist Union to reflect this change in direction.

The names of these organizations – Liberation Rally, National Union, and the Arab Socialist Union – were significant. In each case, the word 'party' was scrupulously avoided, given its powerful connotations within Egypt of division and lack of national purpose. Therefore, the single party in Egypt was never conceived of as being an active institution with decision-making powers; rather, it was considered a civic association to mobilize the people. "Indeed, it was viewed more as a means of mobilizing political participation than as a vehicle for popular participation."

Anwar Sadat (1970–1981)