Egypt's political parties committee on Monday approved the establishment of two parties, the Salafi Asala Party and the nationalist Karama Party. In a statement, the Political Parties Affairs Committee said the two parties fulfilled the conditions required by law. The committee added that both parties have the right to engage in political activities starting from the day after the decision is made. With the decision, Karama Party becomes the first official party with a presidential candidate - Hamdeen Sabbahi, who founded the party along with Amin Eskandar. Sabbahi said he would resign from the party if he is elected president though. Meanwhile, Eskandar said Sabbahi's presidential campaign will continue its mission to gather 30,000 signatures to drum up support for Sabbahi from all governorates. Karama Party will contest 100 seats in the parliamentary elections, Eskandar said. The party will call on revolutionary political forces to run for elections through a unified list so no Mubarak regime members can get into parliament. The Asala Party is the second approved Salafi party, after the Nour Party. It was founded by Adel Abdel Maqsood Afify, Ihab Mohamed Ali Sheeha and Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Fattah Sultan. Translated from the Arabic Edition
