Two secular electoral blocs have emerged ahead of parliamentary elections. The first, announced a week ago, is headed by the Wafd Party and includes the Egyptian Social Democratic Party led by Mohamed Abul-Ghar, the Reform and Development Party led by Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat, the Conservative Party led by oil tycoon Akmal Qortam, and the Awareness Party led by Mahmoud Taher, chairman of Al-Ahli Club. The chairman of the Wafd, Sayed Al-Badawi, says LE200 million has already been earmarked for the election campaign of the Egyptian Wafd alliance. The second bloc, the Egyptian Front, was launched at a press conference on 17 August. It includes the Congress Party, founded by Amr Moussa, the Misr Baladi Party, led by former interior minister Ahmed Gamaleddin, and the National Movement, founded by Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, together with the Modern Egypt and People's Republican Parties. Al-Badawi said Monday that the Egyptian Front is in negotiations to merge with the Egyptian Wafd alliance, as is the Civilian Democratic Current, a loose grouping of smaller parties. Ahmed Al-Boraie, a founding member of the Constitution Party, said the Civilian Democratic Current is considering joining the Egyptian Wafd alliance, in order to present a united front of forces committed to the goals of the January revolution and opposed to the return of former members of the defunct National Democratic Party (NDP). “Two secular blocs with two rival platforms have recently asked to join the Egyptian Wafd Alliance,” said Yasser Hassaan, media spokesman for the alliance. “One includes a number of Mubarak regime officials, the other is an umbrella for anti-Mubarak revolutionary forces. The alliance is still considering the requests.” Failed presidential election candidate Hamdeen Sabahi used a meeting with leftist and liberal political activists on 19 August to lambast the Egyptian Front, which he characterized as a vehicle for the return of Mubarak-era politicians. “We reject any coordination with this NDP-led electoral alliance,” Sabahi said. “Its political platform and its attitudes are indistinguishable from the Mubarak regime. It represents a setback for Egypt's democratic process.” Sabahi is one of the driving forces behind the Civilian Democratic Current, which groups together six post-2011 revolution political parties — the Karama Party, Socialist Popular Alliance, Popular Current, Constitution Party, Misr Al-Horreya Party, and Justice Party. Sabahi's remarks triggered a furious response. “Egypt Front's attempt to merge with the Wafd-led alliance was motivated by a sincere wish to bring all secular forces which reject Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist political parties into one electoral bloc,” insisted Salah Hassaballah, deputy chairman of the Congress Party. “We want to group all forces which reject the mixing of religion with politics and believe in a civilian Egypt.” Hassaballah accused Sabahi of trying to exclude some factions from the secular mainstream. “Secular forces should be uniting against the return of Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates, rather than squabbling over who is the most revolutionary,” he said. He denied that the Egyptian Front is a cover for ex-NDP officials. “It includes some officials who served the state under the Mubarak regime, none of whom has been implicated in corruption,” said Hassaballah. He also recalled that Sabahi had willingly joined an electoral alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood during the 2012 parliamentary poll. Some leftist and Nasserist forces also objected to Sabahi's remarks. The Tagammu Party, often accused of lending itself to the Mubarak era's attempts to present a multi-party façade despite its leftist protestations, was among the most outraged. “We decided to join the Egyptian Front after we received assurances that it did not include any leading officials from the NDP and that it was committed to preventing the return of Islamist extremist forces to political life,” Tagammu chairman Sayed Abdel-Al told the party's mouthpiece, the weekly Al-Ahali. Others attacked Sabahi for entering into talks with the Wafd alliance. “Al-Wafd is a reactionary force that long provided political cover for the regime of Hosni Mubarak,” said Gamal Zahran, a professor of political science at Suez Canal University and former MP. “It makes no sense for a revolutionary figure like Sabahi to join an electoral alliance dominated by counter-revolutionary business tycoons.” Zahran said that moderate leftist forces are about to launch their own electoral alliance next week, under the name Social Justice Alliance. “It will consist of people who have chosen not to join the Wafd or NDP-led electoral alliances, neither of which represent the hopes of the revolutions of 25 January and 30 June,” Zahran said. “The Social Justice Alliance will include former independent MPs with moderate leftist leanings committed to social justice and democratisation, and to ridding Egypt of its dependency on America.” Sabahi's Civilian Democratic Current, said Zahran, includes political parties with a western political agenda. “We are against any reform agendas imported from the west, which is why we are steering clear of Sabahi's alliance,” he said. Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, chairman of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, argues that the political upheavals since Egypt since 2011 have exacerbated the divisions among leftist forces. “Some forces, like the Tagammu, believe the Muslim Brotherhood is the greatest danger to Egypt. Others think that the danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming an excuse for the return of Mubarak-era diehards,” Shukr told Al-Ahram daily on Sunday. Sabahi's alliance, he continued, opposes a return to either the Mubarak years or to Brotherhood domination. “We believe that the divisions among secular leftist and liberal forces will only serve the interests of the Mubarak diehards and Muslim Brotherhood. As secular forces we are attempting to negotiate a path out of this predicament.” The Free Egyptians Party, founded by business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, has refused to join any electoral alliance. “This is not because of any conflict of ideologies or platform,” says Sawiris, “but because electoral alliances will focus on winning the 20 per cent of seats allocated to party-based candidates. The majority of seats — 75 per cent — are reserved for independent candidates, which renders coordination among secular forces meaningless.”
