politics link: , , , Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood held a public conference for the first time in decades yesterday to celebrate the official founding of the Freedom and Justice Party, which is the first legally recognized political entity associated with the Brotherhood. The Parties Affairs Committee has officially approved the establishment of the party – it is the first party announced after Egypt's January 25 Revolution. Mohamed al-Beltagi, a former member of parliament, said the Brotherhood should bear the responsibility of re-building the country in the current critical stage of Egypt's history. He said it is necessary to remove the remnants of the former regime which spread corruption and which need more time to be cleansed across the country. Al-Beltagi said the main responsibility the new party should bear in the next stage is developing the country after decades of suppression and threats. He said the Egyptian political regime has been overthrown, so Egyptians should build a new regime through developing Egyptian institutions from local councils to the election of the speaker of the People's Assembly (the lower house of parliament). The prominent Brotherhood leader stressed that the main objective of the Egyptian revolution was to restore Egypt's leading role. He warned of attempts to split the country through supporting sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians, and Salafis and Sufis. He said such attempts aim to move the country backward. The Freedom and Justice Party, said al-Beltagi, aims to establish a state not ruled by the military that will allow political multiplicity. He added that the new state should be ruled by the constitution and laws, with an Islamic reference, refusing both a state ruled by Islamic clerics and the secular state imported from the west. Al-Beltagi criticized calls for establishing a new constitution before holding parliamentary elections and refused the proposition to prepare Egypt's new constitution in a closed room by an appointed committee. He said the country needs to end its current transitional stage, demanding that the attendees realize the danger of the absence of parliamentary supervision on governmental performance. Al-Beltagi repeated the MB's promise that they will not run for Egypt's presidency. He stressed that the group could take the majority of the parliament but wants only one-third of the parliamentary seats. Ahmed abu-Bakr, a leader in the Freedom and Justice Party, said only the people have the institutional authority so there are two ways to establish a democratic constitution: first, the people elect an institutional assembly and grant it the authority to establish the constitution without referendum; second, the people keep the institutional authority. Abu-Bakr said that the party will separate from the Brotherhood only in membership and institutions. He said the Brotherhood itself will not interfere in the affairs or decisions of the party. Ali Bateekh, a member of the Shura Council of the MB, praised the Egyptian revolution which overthrew the former regime which stole the money of the people, corrupted the economy and deteriorated Egypt's position in the regional and international arenas. He also presented the achievements the group achieved from 1984 to 2005, which witnessed unprecedented achievement for the MB when it managed to gain 88 seats in the People's Assembly. Bateekh praised the Brotherhood's role in confronting corruption during the recent parliamentary elections in November 2010 (the elections were the most fraudulent in recent Egyptian history). Bateekh demanded that different political powers bridge the gap between them and exert efforts to rebuild the institutions of the state. He demanded these powers work toward developing the country politically, socially, culturally, and economically to restore Egypt's leading role among the Arab nations. Bateekh raised the necessity of accountability of those who corrupted the country and stole its money under the former regime. He also talked about the MB's ‘national' role, particularly because they had been persecuted by the former regime through torture and imprisonment. Mahmoud Amer, a former parliamentarian in the Brotherhood's bloc, criticized the other new parties which have not completed the required measures to establish their parties. He said the Freedom and Justice Party submitted the required papers to the Parties Affairs Committee a month ago, while other parties have not taken serious steps in this regard. Amer said Sharia, Islamic Law, is the main reference of the new party as it ensures the rights of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority as well as its Muslim majority. He recounted Islamic stories from the era of the Prophet Mohamed to prove that Islam ensures equality among all citizens.
