CAIRO: The Revolution Continues Alliance and Al-Adl Party denied Sunday electoral coordination with the liberal Egyptian Bloc and nine other political parties and civil society movements. A number of liberal and leftist political powers, including the Alliance, Al-Adl, the Democratic Front and the Reform and Development Parties, held a meeting Thursday to coordinate support for candidates vying for single-winner seats in the next two phases of the staggered parliamentary elections. The move was prompted by the domination of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which won 36 of 54 single-winner seats, followed by the Salafi Al-Nour Party, which won five seats in the first round of the elections covering nine governorates. In electoral lists, FJP got 36.6 percent of the votes, Al-Nour 24 percent and the Egyptian Bloc was third with 13.4 percent. The Egyptian Bloc had included the Revolution Continues Alliance and Al-Adl in an advertisement highlighting the names of groups and parties engaged in this electoral coalition. The Alliance, however, denied the claim, stressing that it refuses to cooperate with any political power or to support candidates affiliated with the former regime. "We repeatedly said that we refuse to be party to any coordination that includes figures from the former regime," said Tahany Lasheen, member of the Alliance's media committee. She confirmed that the Alliance attended the meeting to discuss the possibility of coordination with other powers, but that no final decision will be taken before all candidates are vetted to ensure that none of them were members of the toppled regime or its dissolved National Democratic Party. Islam Lotfy, who is running with the Alliance, said in a televised interview Sunday that the group refused to coordinate with the Egyptian Bloc because their list included remnants of the old regime and their lack of commitment to supporting youth candidates. In the same Dream TV interview, media spokesman of the Bloc Mohamed Ghoniem, said that the Bloc would not ask youth candidates to withdraw. "It is not logical for parties or Alliances would withdraw their candidates a few days before the second round," he said. Ahmed Shokry, one of the founders of Al-Adl Party, said that the meeting was held to discuss potential support by for certain individual candidates, and that his party was not taking part in any reported electoral coordination. "We attended the meeting but we didn't agree to enter an electoral cooperation. Part of our refusal is because the Bloc's suggested list includes some suspicious names," he said, stressing that Al-Adl is running on its own lists. Bassel Adel, candidate and member of the political bureau of the Free Egyptians Party, was adamant that the advertisement only meant that there was consensus over this coordination. “It is illogical to put out an advertisement in newspapers about an electoral coordination without the agreement from all the mentioned parties," said Adel. "[Al-Adl] want to stereotype us as a far-right party, while they are a moderate centrist one," he added. He also hit back at the Revolution Continues Alliance, saying that the group seeks to smear any other political groups as “traitors” and that he didn't expect them to win more than two seats. He added that internal rifts may have caused them to pull out after agreeing in the meeting. Adel stressed that any candidate whose affiliation with the old regime is proven is immediately excluded. "To prove that, we just excluded the candidate who topped our list in the Quesna constituency in Menufiya," he said.
