The Free Egyptians Party (FEP) received 31 new members who signed registration forms on Sunday, leaving the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) for the former. The new FEP members include former parliamentarian Emad Gad, who said that he is happy that he and other ESDP figures joined the FEP. He added that he had "hoped that the two parties would merge, but that did not happen for various reasons". The announcement and signing were made in a press conference, during which FEP Chairman Ahmed Saeed said that his party will do all it can to "harmonise" them within the party. He added: "What happened does not diminish or weaken ESDP's position." Ahead of the announcement, ESDP Secretary-General Ahmed Fawzy said that he respects the 31 who left and their new party. "I will never forget their roles inside the party... and I will never offend any of them, even if the one of them offends me or my party," he said. Fawzy added: "In all honesty, we are a party that has different values, ideas and principles and we will continue to keep them based on our belief that they are appropriate to solve the problems of our country." After joining the FEP, Gad said: "Our target is to build a strong political party, with the parliamentary elections being one of its priorities." As it stands, Egypt has no legislative body and its political parties have recently been announcing their positions on the upcoming presidential elections, set to be held on 26 and 27 May. Parliamentary elections will follow the presidential elections. The ESDP announced that it would officially remain neutral ahead of the presidential elections, while the FEP backs Former Defence Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
