CAIRO - Following the January 25 popular uprising, ten new parties are seeking public recognition with their various agendas ranging from modernity to far right views. "We want to be heard and talked to directly," Amr el-Hamzawi, a political activist and mentor of a new liberal party, said after a meeting with a group of young people calling themselves 'Al-Tahrir Youth'. The revolution created a new trend calling for more parties, which the military rulers should not deny, Hamzawi said; a trend deeply rooted in popular backing following the revolution, re-shaping the Egyptian political scene. "I want the authorities to respect the young people's will and allow them to be involved in political life," he said, adding that his party's official name was not decided yet. However, Hamzawi said that his party included public figures, university professors, business leaders and ordinary people representing various walks of life. "The party is concerned with promoting citizens' rights, democracy, human rights, social justice, liberalism and combatting graft," he said, adding that the newly established parties would become a stronghold of the nation's youth after the revolution, which paved the way for more political mobility in the country after 30 years of stagnation. This mobility has encouraged some youths to approach media personality Wael el-Ebrashi to help them set up Al-Tahrir Youth Party, which is considered to become one of the most powerful parties in Egypt. "The Tahrir (liberation) Party, whose agenda is being worked on, will have nationwide branch offices. It will hold its first congress in Sharm el-Sheikh to send a message to the whole world, demonstrating that this Red Sea resort does not belong to the old regime anymore," el- Ebrashi said. Diaa el-Assqalani, a member of the foundation committee of the planned Al-Tahrir Revolutionaries' Party, said that he and his colleagues decided to set up their party while holding an anti-Mubarak protest in the famous Cairo square and that his opposition party would run on a moderate ticket, expecting that it would become the largest party in parliament after the legislative elections next September. "The Tahrir Revolutionaries' Party will be the most popular party in Egypt because it emphasises moderate values and ethics in public life, a message acceptable to people in low-income urban areas," he said. The September polls will be the second parliamentary vote under the reform-minded military rulers who came to power after the January 25 revolution. El-Assqalani said that the party, composed of mainly young intellectuals, would spearhead gradual social and economic reforms. Political analysts say that the wide-spread apathy before the revolution was deeply rooted in the belief that the parties were a toothless body made up of politicians from the elite who failed to keep their election promises. But after the revolution this general belief changed, and new parties would seek to achieve many positive changes. El-Assqalani said that the Tahrir Revolutionaries' Party intended to increase young people's representation in parliament.
