CAIRO: The Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) officially withdrew from the Democratic Alliance today. The group said its withdrawal was in protest of the small number of seats allotted to the group on the alliance's list for upcoming parliamentary elections. The Gama'a al-Islamiya officially left the Alliance, which underestimated the group by listing its candidates at the bottom of Alliance's list, said Assem Abdel Maged, the group's spokesman. Gama'a al-Islamiyya wanted to nominate 150 to 200 candidates for the Peoples' Assembly, but the Alliance provided them only 80 seats. Two weeks later, the Alliance allocated only 20 seats in its PR list; thus, the group withdrew. Gama'a al-Islamyyia will run for the parliamentary seats on the Building and Development Party's list, Abdel Maged added. Meanwhile, the Nasserite Party chairman Sameh Ashour announced his party electorally withdrew from the Democratic Alliance as the candidates of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) took the majority of the Alliance's list. Al-Karama Party also withdrew from the Alliance due to the great number of the FJP and New al-Ghad Party members of the Alliance's list. Furthermore, al-Karama and the Nasserite Parties candidates are listed in the last one-third of the list.
