CAIRO: The Free Egyptians, Justice and Egyptian Democratic Social parties presented Tuesday to the political parties affairs committee the necessary papers for their establishment including lists of the names of the parties' founders and their programs. The parties said that they are now outlining plans to compete in the upcoming legislative elections and to open new branches in governorates. Free Egyptians Party, established by businessman Naguib Sawiris, presented 6,000 membership proxies out of 12,000 and was represented by Hani Sary Al-Din and Ragi Solieman. "If we had more time, we would have prepared better but as the date of the elections approaches we needed to present our papers now," Khalid Qandil, acting head of the party, told Daily News Egypt. "We now have seven braches in governorates and are planning to expand to reach all governorates shortly and we started choosing our candidates in the upcoming legislative elections," he said. Qandil said that they are planning to field 220 candidates. He denied allegations that the party is paying money to new members. "We don't want anyone who doesn't believe in the party's principles. We aren't responsible for those who seek fame through the party and will publish an announcement in newspapers stating this," he said. Egyptian Democratic Social Party presented 6,353 proxies out of 30,000 signed members and was represented by Mohamed Abul Ghar, Emad Gad, Ihab Al-Kharat and member of the Revolution Youth Coalition Zyad Al-Elemy. "The procedures are complicated; we could have presented more proxies but we exceeded the minimum number needed," Al-Kharat said. According to law, a new party has to present at least 5,000 proxies from founding members from 10 governorates, 30 from each governorate, and must publish their names in two widespread daily newspapers within a week. If the committee doesn't present an objection to the Supreme Administrative Court within eight days, the party is automatically approved. The Egyptian Democratic Social Party now has 12 branches nationwide. "We are now working on preparing candidates [for the parliamentary elections] and are ready with 100 candidates," he said. Al-Kharat said that they are forming coalitions with Democratic Front, Free Egyptians, Justice and Al-Ghad parties to compete in a unified roster. The Justice party presented 5,700 proxies but was asked to return on Wednesday due to the insufficient numbers of employees to revise the papers. "We are now planning to spread across the country and are forming specialized committees to work on the party's program and widen the membership and participation basis," said Hesham Akram, one of the party's founding members. He said that they are still studying who and where they will field their candidates in the elections.
