Founding members of el-Wasat political party are filing an official complaint against the government due to the Party Affairs Committee's decision to deny el-Wasat a license. Abul Ela Madi, a representative of the founders of el-Wasat and Essam Sultan, the party's lawyer, lodged their complaint with Youssef Boutros-Ghali, the head of the National Council for Human Rights. In the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Masry Al-Youm, Madi accused the committee of violating the constitution by denying the founders their right to participate in political activity. Madi said that he submitted an application to form el-Wasat to Safwat el-Sherif, president of the Party Affairs Committee. Attached to the application was a suggested platform of the 1180 members of the party, including prominent Muslim and Coptic political thinkers and activists, Madi said. Madi attached to his complaint a copy of the Administrative Court ruling of 6 January 2007 that says a party should be licensed if formed by more than 1000 founders, irrespective of its platform. He also attached a report by the State Commissioner's Authority asserting that the party platform stands out among the other party platforms. Madi said the committee checked with the security services and found that the party platform had no issues in common with other platforms, which makes it distinct. Justifying its decision, the committee said the names of the founders were published in the papers in a small font that made it difficult to read. It also said the party platform does not come up with anything new that the other political parties are not already working on. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
