The countdown now hits days rather than weeks to the upcoming Egyptian parliamentary elections that will mark the last step of the country's protracted road map. Nevertheless, most of renowned political parties seem not ready to run for the electoral process, raising controversy about the future of the political life in Egypt. Following the Jan. 25 revolution, it was clear that Egypt lacked a powerful political party that could obtain the majority of parliament seats, paving the way to form its own government. This statue gave the chance for Islamist movements, including the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, to appear on the scene as the only political power that can rule the country. Those problems gathered different parties from different directions starting from the far left, such as Tagammou and Nazareth parties to the far right, such as Al-Dostour and Conference parties. Al-Dostour No sooner had Egyptian political parties settled the crisis of election laws than they burst into internal power struggles and ideological differences that could seriously affect their performance in the coming polls. Al-Dostour (Constitution) Party, one of the country's most critical political forces since June 30 incidents, has been witnessing a growing internal struggle that has been widely covered by local media outlets in recent weeks. The party which was founded by former director general of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, as a liberal revolutionary force after Jan. 25th revolution, was plagued by a power struggle, like Al-Wafd, between two rival factions. A rift that led to the resignation of the party's chairwoman, Hala Shukrallah and the spokesperson, Khaled Dawoud a few weeks before the upcoming Parliamentary elections. In June, a conflict sparked between Shukrallah and the party's secretary general, Tamer Goma'a, who is running for chairmanship in the upcoming internal elections, when she called for electing a new leader for the party on 28 August after several postponements. In a meeting held by Goma'a, the party's so-called "Council of Elders" accused Shukrallah of monopolizing power, rejecting her call for internal elections. In response, Shukrallah said the "Council of Elders" has no authority to cancel or question her decision on the party's internal elections. Dawoud indicated that the difficulty of managing the party's internal election process and the recent inflamed struggle, forced Shukrallah to resign eventually from the party however she tried more than once to resolve it. Shukrallah has submitted her resignation last week, highlighting escalating disputes and complications that could affect the future of the party. On the other hand, Al-Dostour suffered recently from a financial crisis that made Goma'a, who is acts as a head of the party, to address the party's treasurer, Mina Halim to provide a detailed report on the party's budget in a bid to solve the situation facing the party. Due to this financial crisis, the party could not pay the rent for its main headquarters in Cairo for July and August, in addition to a number of cases filed against the party because of delayed rents. It seems clear that Egypt's long-waited polls will keep unveiling the hidden conflicts within the country's parties, threatening of a mysterious future rather than a forward step on the road of development and instability.
