The 6th April Youth opposition movement started Saturday its third annual conference which coincided with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)'s seventh annual conference. The movement, first established in 2008 as a Facebook group, will hold its conference via the internet but plans to hold the closing session at the liberal opposition Democratic Front Party's headquarters. Several opposition leaders, rights activists and political thinkers will participate in the conference including Ghad Party founder Ayman Nour, Amr al-Shobaki, an expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, and Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information organization. Movement founder Ahmed Maher said that the conference--to be held under the slogan "From the Egyptian Occupied Territories"--will end on 27 December. This year's conference will focus on "exposing the NDP's lies regarding its so-called achievements", and address electoral fraud in the recently held parliamentary polls, the opposition's proposed "shadow parliament" and a controversial law on political rights, which regulates Egypt's electoral system During the event, the group plans to launch an awareness campaigned dubbed, "How to bring change to Egypt," said Maher, which will aim to raise awareness among both activists and citizens on how to foster genuine political reform in Egypt. According to Maher, the movement will set a new precedent at this year's conference by presenting awards for "worst political party," "worst political figure," and "worst newspaper." Nominees, he said, would be invited to attend the event to accept their awards.
