Election alliance tensions have flared up between Islamist movements and parties after two Salafi parties announced they will leave an Islamic and secularist coalition. The Asala and Fadila parties will leave the Democratic Alliance, a coalition headed by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. The Salafi-led parties withdrew after the Freedom and Justice Party took control of the majority of the alliance's seats. Jama'a al-Islamiya's Development and Construction Party is also considering withdrawal from the Democratic Alliance after it only selected 15 candidates for its lists to represent the party in the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to sources close to Jama'a al-Islamiya. The Wasat Party and the Salafi-led Nour Party had left the alliance earlier. Parties that left the alliance started to form other coalitions to face the Muslim Brotherhood. The Nour and Asala parties formed a coalition, and the Riyada Party and Wasat Party formed another coalition in Alexandria. Al-Masry Al-Youm was informed that disagreements between the Freedom and Justice Party and other parties threaten the alliance. The Freedom and Justice Party insists on putting its candidates on top of the alliance's lists and dominating with more than 50 percent, which caused a delay in announcing the lists. An alliance source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Muslim Brotherhood considers the Democratic Alliance a portal to their lists and wants to use it to compete with the Wafd Party, which broke away from the alliance a few days ago. The source said the Muslim Brotherhood fears the Wafd Party's success, so it decided to run for 90 percent of single-winner seats. The source expected more parties to break away from the alliance within a few hours unless the Freedom and Justice Party agrees to put its candidates on top of some lists rather than all the lists. Jama'a al-Islamiya spokesperson Tarek al-Zomor said the group's Development and Construction Party is conducting negotiations with the Freedom and Justice Party to increase the number of its candidates after the Democratic Alliance selected only 15 candidates to represent the party. Zomor added that if negotiations fail, the party will leave the alliance and form another unified list with other Islamic forces, including the Asala, Nour, Salama and Amal parties. The alliance has asked Jama'a al-Islamiya to nominate its popular leaders, but instead it nominated second-line leaders, so it was natural that the alliance gave them a limited number of seats, said Wahid Abdel Meguid, chairman of the Democratic Alliance's coordinating committee. "We are facing a crisis in Sohag Governorate and Qena Governorate because tribalism controls elections there, in addition to the strong presence of former National Democratic Party members. Therefore, we will try to rely on the heads of major families who have political awareness to fight the elections," Abdel Meguid said. The Asala Party withdrew from the alliance because it wanted to fight the elections on two lists at the same time, Abdel Meguid said, adding that Asala Party wanted to nominate its members on the lists of the Democratic Alliance and another alliance at the same time. Asala Party also started to coordinate with other parties to run for the single-winner seats without notifying the Democratic Alliance, he said. Abdel Meguid said the competition will flare up in Alexandria, the birthplace of Nour Party, which intends to run on an independent ticket. The alliance will depend on Islamist voters in Alexandria, he said, particularly in districs such as Raml Station, so 90 percent of the alliance's lists in such areas will include Freedom and Justice Party candidates, and 10 percent will include Nahda Party and other parties that have supporters in Alexandria. Abdel Meguid denied what Adel Afify, chairman of the Asala Party has said that the party has withdrawn because it was given only 8 seats on the lists of the alliance. He also denied that Fadila Party has broken away from the alliance. Abdel Meguid said the alliance holds meetings to select the best candidates, regardless of their party affiliation and the percentage of each party on the lists. "Carving out the constituencies and distributing candidates is difficult and cumbersome, and some candidates do not have patience," he said, noting that the 50 percent quota for workers and farmers adds to their problems, because the number of the alliance's professional candidates is larger than its number of candidates who are workers and farmers. Meanwhile, Nader Bakkar, Nour Party's media spokesperson, said the party has agreed to run in elections with Asala Party in a joint coalition. The Nour, Asala, Amal, and Wasat parties will meet today to discuss forming an election coalition in the coming parliamentary elections, he said. Nahda Party founder Mohamed Habib said the party has not yet finished preparing all the lists of its candidates. He added that the party contacted a number of political forces, including the Karama, Popular Alliance and Wasat parties, as well as the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition to agree on joint lists. Riyada Party announced it will join the Wasat Party list to compete against Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria, adding that the Nahda and Islah parties are considering joining the list. Khaled Dawoud, a Riyada Party founder, said he will top the Wasat Party list in Alexandria's second constituency. Amr Khalil, former Brotherhood leader, said he will top the Wasat Party list in city's first constituency. Translated from the Arabic Edition
