CAIRO: The General Coordinator of the April 6 Youth Movement in Damietta denied claims that members in the governorate had joined the splinter group, the Democratic Front. “Some of our members joined the Democratic Front, while the majority still follows the original movement headed by General Coordinator Ahmed Maher,” Mohamed Abou Samra told Daily News Egypt Friday. However, the General Coordinator of the movement's Democratic Front in Damietta, Adnan Alaa El-din, insisted that all the movement's members in Damietta had joined the Front. The group which labels itself the Democratic Front of the April 6 Youth Movement split from the three-year-old movement soon after the ouster of ex-president Mubarak in February due to differences with Maher. The Front announced late Thursday that the movement's members in Damietta governorate had decided to join the splinter group, leaving the original movement led by Maher. The Front claimed that Maher took decisions like a dictator, adding that its followers disagreed with the suggestion to turn the movement into a political party or NGO, a suggestion which Maher repeatedly denied. “Maher believed that the movement represented him only,” Alaa El-Din said. Maher responded by saying members who joined the Democratic Front had only become part of the April 6 Movement during the uprising, adding that they cannot be considered core members. “They later established a parallel movement, claiming they were part of April 6, to give themselves a name in the media,” Maher told DNE. Abou Samra echoed Maher's statements saying, “These people don't even know Maher and they never attended our meetings … some of them have never even met him.” “Maher is treated like any other member in the movement in meetings,” he added. The Front is set to hold internal elections on Sept. 9 to elect a General Coordinator and members of the media and political committees. Ever since the Front split from April 6, it has had no coordinator and its decisions have been made either by the political committee or through a majority vote. However, the April 6 Movement had different plans for internal elections. “The circumstances in the country now are very chaotic and hectic and it's no time to hold internal elections,” Maher said. He added that the movement will hold internal elections at the beginning of next year. Contrary to claims that the movement has never had elections before, Maher said that the movement has held elections every year. The last elections were held in June 2010 to select the General Coordinator, according to Maher.
