In practice, the ruling NDP, backed by the military, runs a one-party state. The NDP government is engaged in a struggle against Islamic terrorist groups which are seeking to turn Egypt into a Muslim theocracy along Iranian lines. Extremists have been responsible for numerous attacks on police and tourists. The Gamaat Islamiya which advocates a more radical program of Islamic reform than the comparatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood, announced in 1999 that it was giving up the armed struggle. The fundamentalist message, with promises of improved conditions, has proved attractive to both urban and rural poor.
Mosques are often the main providers of education and health services that parallel the state's.
The government uses draconian measures to counter the terrorist threat, while allowing religious organizations to pursue their social programs. The ruling NDP in 1994 extended the national state of emergency in force since the assassination of President Sadat by Islamic terrorists in 1981. Emergency laws have been invoked to justify the ban on religious parties, especially the Muslim Brotherhood. In the last general election, held in 1995, opposition parties accused the NDP of using existing laws to ensure its electoral success. Human rights groups claim that emergency powers are routinely applied to silence the NDP's political opponents.