Mona El-Nahhas examines the past and present of the leftist Tagammu Party Short history The Tagammu's roots lie in the leftist wing of the Arab Socialist Union which, in 1975, was allowed a degree of autonomy and a year later became a separate political party. In its earliest form it was a broad left coalition, including Nasserists, Marxists and Arab nationalists, with a manifesto that advocated socialism and was strongly opposed to imperialism and Zionism. Its membership peaked at 150,000. A 123-member founding committee held its first meeting on 10 April, 1976, electing Khaled Mohieddin, a member of the Free Officers Movement that overthrew the monarchy in 1952, as its chairman. It was not long before divisions appeared, first between the Marxists and Nasserists. The latter finally abandoned the Tagammu in 1992 to form their own party. Between 1976 and Anwar El-Sadat's assassination in October 1981 the Tagammu was a vociferous opponent of the government which reacted by detaining some party members and closing the party's mouthpiece Al-Ahali. The national press tended to characterise the Tagammu as communist. Following Sadat's death the party may have hoped to regain its earlier strength but found itself increasingly at odds with official policy as it embraced economic liberalism ever tighter. In 1990 the Tagammu was the only opposition party to contest the elections. Just five of its 33 candidates managed to find their way to parliament. The 1995 polls Ahead of the 1995 elections the Tagammu attempted to position itself as a third force, distinct from both the government and Islamist groups. It adopted "Democracy and the Necessity of Change" as its slogan, and used the same strategy it had five years earlier, fielding a limited number of candidates. Forty members were chosen to run in 16 governorates. Five won seats: Khaled Mohieddin, El-Badri Farghali, Abul-Ezz El-Hariri, Abdel-Aziz Shaaban and Mohamed El-Deheiri. Mohieddin, long respected for his balanced political approach, became the leader of the opposition in parliament. The performance of Tagammu MPs in defending the interests of those on low-incomes won many plaudits. Their opposition to privatisation, the arbitrary dismissal of workers, price increases and unemployment all won praise. It was vigorous in its criticism of legislation regulating civil society organisations and the unified labour law, and in 1997 filed a lawsuit contesting changes to the law governing the relationship between land owners and tenants. The 2000 polls The Tagammu ended the 2000 elections as the largest opposition group in parliament, albeit with just six seats. The parliamentary bloc, once again headed by Mohieddin, tabled many interpellations and contributed to the sometimes fraught debates that helped enrich parliamentary life. It launched campaigns in support of the Palestinians and against the US-led invasion of Iraq. During the party's fifth general congress in 2003 Mohieddin resigned as the Tagammu's chairman -- the first party leader to voluntarily quit. His decision, he said, was made to allow younger members to take over the running of the party and to provide a practical lesson in the rotation of power. Mohieddin's resignation came a year after the party's statutes were amended to limit the terms of senior party officials to eight years. Rifaat El-Said, the then secretary-general, was elected as Mohieddin's successor. Since taking over El-Said -- an appointed member at the Shura Council -- has been criticised for shifting the party closer towards the government. Many members were also unhappy with his attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood group, viewing them as an attempt to flirt with the regime at the expense of the party's public credibility. The 2005 polls In the last parliamentary polls the party fielded 50 candidates of whom just two -- Shaaban and Mohamed Telima -- succeeded. Mohieddin himself was among the casualties. Within a year Telima resigned from the Tagammu to protest against the party's declining popularity, only to join the NDP, leaving Shaaban as the party's sole MP. In response to the election results many of the Tagammu's rank and file called upon the party's leaders to resign, blaming them not only for the appalling losses but a membership that had shrunk to 20,000. Gouda Abdel-Khaleq, a member of the political bureau, was among the loudest critics of the status quo. After several years of abortive attempts to reform the party, Abdel-Khaleq opted to freeze his membership in 2006. Despite several attempts to oust him, El-Said remained in his post. During the party's most recent elections, held in 2008, El-Said defeated his deputy and rival El-Hariri to retain his post as chairman. In 2009 El-Hariri, who had hoped to reform the party, found himself expelled for damaging the public image of the Tagammu. He had sharply criticised El-Said's dictatorial way of running the party in the press. Coming polls The party will field around 78 candidates, including nine women and six Copts. "We hoped that we would have more candidates but finances limited the number," says El-Said. To improve candidates' chances the party is attempting to coordinate with the Wafd and Nasserists to ensure their representatives do not compete in the same constituencies and split the opposition vote. The Tagammu denies entering into an alliance with either the ruling NDP or the Muslim Brotherhood. "We have deep ideological differences with both of them," says party spokesman Nabil Zaki. Candidates will fight on a platform that includes improving the standard of living of the poorest members of society and affording greater protection to citizens' rights.
