CAIRO: Seventy-three members of Al-Tagammu party's central committee resigned Saturday and said they would launch a new leftist party in objection of its president's refusal to step down. The resigned members said that many new members are putting their application on hold until a change happens in the leadership of the party. Three new leftist parties were reportedly willing to join Al-Tagammu if its president Refaat Al-Saied left. Al-Saied said in a press conference Sunday that he won't resign. Only the party's general conference this July can discharge him from his post, he added. He said that he wasn't willing to continue as the party's head after the general conference. The party held its regular central committee meeting Saturday to discuss a number of reports on the party's stance from the revolution and constitutional amendments and another on reforming the party. Ten members suggested adding the withdrawal of confidence from the party's leadership; 93 members refused while 73 agreed. The 73 members left the meeting and held another at a different hall, in which they decided to resign. An official statement by the party said that they were only 38 members. “There have always been debates and differences within Al-Tagammu and everyone was free to express their opinion in an atmosphere of democracy, but at the end we have always abided by the majority's final decision,” Al-Saied said. “What is unacceptable is the minority trying to impose its opinion by force,” he added. Abu El-Ezz Al-Hariry, a prominent Al-Tagammu member leading the opposition, said that Al-Saeid was avoiding the problem and was postponing it to the general conference, whose half its memberships were “fraudulent.” “He didn't allow us to discuss the reasons of adding the withdrawal of trust to the meeting's agenda before taking votes, He also allowed people who aren't members to attend,” Al-Hariry said. The opposition criticized Al-Saied for his stance during the revolution — by not supporting the popular movements — and his involvement in election fraud with the ousted regime. Al-Saied, on the other hand, welcomed new leftist parties and said that he would seek cooperation with them. He also said he would discuss with the members the reasons that led them to resign. “We have always been involved in the national movement. Before the revolution we urged our members in all governorates to participate, although it was a national holiday to celebrate the memory of policemen who died defending Ismailia,” Al-Saied said. The opposition stream failed last month to assemble an emergency central committee meeting to discharge Al-Saied.
