Amira Howeidy examines the coalitions emerging ahead of November's parliamentary elections There was a palpable sense of anticipation in the air at the minimalist-chic office of Al-Karama (Dignity) newspaper in Downtown Cairo's Emadeddin St, hours before its first issue went to press on Sunday evening. Clad in an elegant suit, its editor Hamdeen Sabahi, MP and founder of the would-be pan-Arab Karama Party, had decided to launch his weekly newspaper on Tuesday -- the same day that President Hosni Mubarak took the oath of office for another six-year term. While the newspaper acquired a license in July that would have expired had it failed to publish within three months, the decision to appear this Tuesday was not one of simple expediency. "We felt the best timing was to coincide with the [president's] oath," said Sabahi, "because we see the paper as a tool for [political] change." Al-Karama 's first headline read: "We swear by God almighty... Gamal Mubarak shall not inherit us." Sabahi, a charismatic politician who defected from the Nasserist Party in 1996 to found Al-Karama -- which has been repeatedly denied authorisation from the government -- is gearing up for November's parliamentary elections. Last Thursday he mounted the podium at Kifaya's (the Egyptian Movement for Change) first annual conference at the Press Syndicate and announced his party's decision to join Kifaya's initiative for a "national opposition front" in the coming elections. Alongside the would-be Al-Wassat Party, Al-Karama and Kifaya now form the nucleus of the nascent national front whose reason d'être is to defeat the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). "Its either the people's list or the state's list," said Sabahi. Although the candidacy registration process only opens on 13 October political forces are already positioning themselves in preparation for November's elections. On Monday the leaders of the Nasserist, Tagammu and Wafd parties announced that they would form a tripartite coalition that will contest the elections with one list. The coalition's list will coordinate individual candidacies, explained Tagammu Party Secretary- General Hussein Abdel-Razeq. "We will not run on one list as such but we will make sure we don't run against each other in the same constituencies . " The three parties are also working towards a joint platform for the elections. This coordination is "open" to other political parties and forces should they wish to join, says Abdel-Razeq. As Al-Ahram Weekly was going to press on Wednesday the coalition's leaders were scheduled to meet at the Wafd headquarters with representatives of political forces, including Al-Karama and the National Coalition for Democratic Change -- a group of intellectuals and public figures formed in June -- to discuss the upcoming elections. Asked about the absence of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in these discussions Abdel-Razeq referred to the Tagammu's "disagreement" with the group. "The Tagammu refuses to coordinate with the Brotherhood," he said. "Why does an alliance mean every single political force in the country has to work together anyway?" While the left-wing Tagammu remains vehemently opposed to the Brotherhood, the Nasserist and Wafd parties adopt a more conciliatory tone. The Wafd's president, Noaman Gomaa, has repeatedly said his party is willing to coordinate with any political force against the NDP in the coming vote. The Wafd and the Brotherhood formed a strategic alliance in the 1984 parliamentary elections. But neither will the tripartite coalition reciprocate Kifaya's call for a national front. "Kifaya is a political movement with a specific agenda," argued Abdel-Razeq. "It organises demonstrations and is not contesting the elections as a movement." Mohamed Habib, the Brotherhood's deputy supreme guide, said that while Kifaya's call for a united front "sounds great" it is "unrealistic". The political climate, he told the Weekly, has created a culture of "mistrust and suspicion" between political forces "which makes things difficult and less transparent". "Ignoring these facts is not very wise," he said. On the other hand, Habib argued, "these are elections and we're talking about 222 constituencies across the nation. We need candidates who have weight, a popular base and can market themselves. If we are to coordinate we will do so constituency by constituency and that will involve hammering out a lot of agreements which could take months." But the Brotherhood, currently the largest opposition bloc in parliament with 17 MPs, does remain keen to capitalise on the current political climate. Habib hinted that the Brotherhood is already negotiating with the frozen Labour Party and the Revolutionary Socialists -- partners with the Brotherhood in the National Front for Reform and Change formed in July -- ahead of the elections. Nothing is final in politics -- certainly not with the Brotherhood -- and the coming weeks are certain to witness meetings and new deals ahead of the November poll. It is then, argue pundits, that the comparative weight of political forces will be revealed.
