Three Opposition Parties Form Coalition For Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

Three Opposition Parties Form Coalition For Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

The news website Al-Masreyoun (The Egyptians) learnt that consultations are being held between the heads of three liberal parties to form a coalition in the upcoming parliamentary elections in September, in a move aimed in particular at facing candidates of Islamist movements, especially the "Muslim Brotherhood", which intends to run for half the seats.

These talks are carried out in secrecy to develop the alliance. It is expected that a meeting will take place on Thursday evening (May 26) or Friday afternoon (May 27), which would involve Naguib Sawiris, founder of the Free Egyptians Party, Dr. Osama Ghazali Harb, leader of the Democratic Front Party and Dr. Mohamed Abul-Ghar, founder of the Democratic Egyptian Party. The meeting is to take place in down-town Cairo in the headquarters of the latter party.

The leaders of those parties are seeking an agreement on the outlines needed to form a coalition to contest in the elections with a unified consolidated list.

A joint committee of the three parties will be formed under the name "Union of the Liberal Parties" in order to coordinate preparations with the bodies, offices and secretaries of the three parties in various provinces. This committee will be held periodically each week.

The meeting between the heads of the three parties will also deal with the call for help by Abul-Ghar’s party for completing the procedures for the declaration of the Democratic Egyptian Party. So far, the party only managed to get 1200 members from a total of 5 thousand signatures and proxies needed by every new party as a minimum to be officially recognized. The other two parties vowed to help the third member in the Liberals’ Union to collect more agents to obtain the necessary number.

Dr. Abul-Ghar entered into an alliance with Dr. Amr Hamzawy in the past; however, this alliance soon broke up. Abul-Ghar then started negotiations with Al-Noor (Light) Liberal Party, but he still failed to reach an agreement because of the opposition voiced by Hamzawy concerning the hierarchical way Abul-Ghar wished to run the party and manage the party affairs between members and the party leadership.

The youth of Al-Noor party also voiced reservations about this mode of leadership, saying that “it has become obsolete”.

On the other hand, Sawiris agreed with the proxies’ registration authorities illegally sending the government official staff from their offices, along with the representative of his Free Egyptians Party, to the clubs where people gather so as to collect signatures for his party. Sawiris obtained signatures from the Shooting Club, Holulido Club and Al-Ghaba Club in Heliopolis.

He managed to distribute many free cell phone lines from his Mobinil Company to the clubs’ members, including those who did not join the Free Egyptians Party.