CAIRO: Fifteen liberal and leftist political parties and groups announced the formation a coalition calling for a civil state, citizenship rights and the protection of the revolution's objectives. The founding parties said that their coalition, dubbed the "Egyptian Bloc", does not aim to counter any political stream or party and is open for everyone who agrees with their principles. "The coalition isn't based on fears of the domination of a certain stream over political life in Egypt but promotes the positive goals of the revolution such as protecting citizenship rights and social justice," said Amr Hamzawy, founder of Masr Al-Horreya Party. Since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February, politicians and activists have expressed concerns that new parties would not have enough time to prepare for elections. This, they argued, would only benefit the members of the now disbanded National Democratic Party and the organized Muslim Brotherhood, which was the biggest opposition force under the former regime. The new bloc includes the Free Egyptians, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Front Party, Al-Tagammu, Al-Wa'y and Masr Al-Horreya as well as the National Council and the National Association for Change. They said that they will contest the elections under a unified list and are currently working on unified election slogans, signs and campaign. They will also co-ordinate the choice of candidates after Ramadan. However, Mamdouh Hamza, head of the National Council, threatened to boycott the elections if the parliament law is not amended. "What's happening now in Egypt is the restructuring of political life after the domination of the National Democratic Party and establishing a political system based on democracy, under which all streams express themselves through political parties," said Osama Al-Ghazaly Harb, head of the Democratic Front Party. Parties stressed that the coalition isn't a response to the July 29 protests organized by Islamists calling for an Islamic state and applying Sharia. "We have engaged in talks to form a coalition regardless of differences in economic views as newly established parties," said Ahmed Said, member of the presidential council of the Free Egyptians Party, noting the limited time they have before the elections. "We have a moral commitment to unite as we have very similar programs and limited resources and time to contest the elections," Hamzawy said. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Al-Wafd Party are leading an alliance of 34 political parties known as the "Democratic Alliance." The Alliance said Sunday that they will discuss coordination mechanisms to contest the elections on a unified list. Members also renewed their commitment to the basic constitutional principles bill issued by the Alliance refusing any supra-constitutional principles. "We don't need supra-constitutional principles. However, we recognize that the bills suggested by political powers are similar … and can be unified in one charter to guide the constituent assembly that will draft the new [constitution] but not be binding," said Saad Al-Katatny, general secretary of the FJP. Members of the Egyptian Bloc said that there is a need to issue the constitutional principles in a constitutional declaration to ensure that the new constitution is representative and will not be monopolized by a single political stream. "The Egyptian revolution should have a document that represents it like all other revolutions to prevent any political stream from hijacking it for its own interests," Harb said. Members of Al-Wafd's higher committee Alaa Abdel-Moniem, Mostafa Al-Gendy and Mona Makram Ebeid attended the inauguration ceremony criticizing the Democratic Alliance. "We want all streams to contest the elections in a unified revolutionary list reflecting its size not the FJP's domination," said Al-Gendy. "The party's chairman, Al-Sayed Al-Badawy, said that Al-Wafd will not contest elections under the FJP," he said. Al-Badawy is facing internal criticism over the Alliance of Al-Wafd, Egypt's oldest liberal party, with the FJP. Abdel-Moniem said that the issue of Al-Wafd's membership in the Alliance and the possibility of joining the Egyptian Bloc will be discussed at the higher committee's next meeting. Al-Tagammu quit the Democratic Alliance after demanding an apology for "violations" committed by members during the July 29 protests. Many Salafi groups, which dominated the protest, raised religious slogans in violation of an agreement with other political powers. A number of Islamist powers refused statements by Deputy Prime Minister Ali Al-Selmy that the Cabinet would issue a charter of supra-constitutional principles and accused the Cabinet of "bias".
