CAIRO - As September's parliamentary elections grow closer, different political parties and activists are getting ready for this historic event. As expected, some parties have started forming coalitions to gain as many seats as possible, especially as the coming elections will be conducted according to the slate system, enhancing the role of the party rather than the individual. However, it is very surprising that Al-Wafd, a traditional, liberal party, should form a coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), known for its religious tendencies. Previously seen as the biggest opposition party, Al-Wafd was publicly accused of collaborating with Mubarak's regime and the then the ruling National Democratic Party when it participated in the 2010 elections, despite the calls for boycotting them, so as not to let the NDP rule the country via rigged elections. Since the revolution, Al-Wafd and many other old parties seem to have lost the public's trust. This is why Al-Wafd had decided to form this strange coalition with the MB, the most organised political movement in the country. It hopes to win some seats by running its candidates on a unified slate with the MB's Freedom and Justice Party. This move, that many analysts see as political opportunism, might enable Al-Wafd to gain some seats in the coming Parliament, but won't help it gain the public's trust if it wants to form a government one day, as it did in the first half of the last century. Just as they have turned their backs on Mubarak's regime and men, Egyptians seem fed up with the old faces and parties that were happy to be no more than political decoration for the toppled regime. Hopefully, the other new liberal parties will be able to impress ordinary citizens with their ideas, in order to gain as many votes as possible, to form a majority at the coming Parliament. Some of these parties have started organising collective public conferences, roaming different governorates and propagating their manifestos. All we can hope is that these parties will agree on running in the elections as a unified coalition, in order to ensure a strong presence in the coming Parliament that will be responsible for drawing up a new constitution.
