By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: As jubilant protesters ended an 18-day sit-in at Tahrir Square, intoxicated with a feeling of empowerment for having ousted former president Hosni Mubarak, eyes turned to opposition parties and the challenge of inducing hundreds of thousands of apolitical Egyptians to become part of the country’s political awakening.
Accused of being “a tool” created by the ousted regime, leaders of traditional opposition parties had to respond to strong internal calls for change led by their youth. Their stance towards the revolution came under scrutiny amid a frenzy of new political parties and splinter groups inspired by the youth-led uprising.
“Political parties have an opportunity to show that they are real parties with a future vision and remove the stigma of being part of the old regime with a number of [token] seats in parliament,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah, analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
With decisive legislative and presidential elections set to take place within the next six to eight months, the traditional opposition parties will need to restructure in order to contain the opposition streams within them and to adopt reform plans to compete against old and new political forces.
According to Abdel Fattah such reforms include the democratic reelection of all their leaders from the bottom up, ending the control of funding over party decisions and opening the doors to new members to bring in fresh blood.
Many opposition members however believe that the risk involved is as high as losing their political roles forever.
“Al-Wafd will either die forever or the youth revolution will win,” said Khalil Al-Awamy, member of the liberal Al-Wafd Party’s youth movement.
Inner conflicts
Conflicts fragmenting political parties were not uncommon in the past, but in this crucial phase of their political future, party leaders are now facing the risk of losing their positions or leading their parties into turmoil.
“These parties are torn by inner conflicts between the old guard and the younger generations. Some are controlled by capital while the rest are so weak and have no popular basis and aren’t qualified to participate in a democracy,” Abdel Fattah said.
Seventy-three members of Al-Tagammu Party’s central committee resigned and said they would launch a new leftist party objecting to the president Refaat El-Saeid’s refusal to step down.
“The performance of the leadership before the revolution didn’t meet our aspirations as they failed to cope with the popular movement and we are holding them responsible for that,” said Khaled Teleima, young member of Al-Tagammu.
“Either they quit or we will enforce change,” he added.
Al-Tagmmu’s president El-Saied considered the opposition stream a minority that should not force its opinion on the majority supporting him.
“We have always been involved in the national movement. Before the revolution we urged our members in all governorates to participate, although it was a national holiday, to celebrate the memory of policemen who died defending Ismailia,” El-Saied said, referring to the January 25 protest which sparked the revolution but was held ironically on Police Day to draw attention to police brutality.
At Al-Wafd, the largest and oldest opposition party, 84 members demanded adding a withdrawal of confidence from leader Al-Sayed Al-Badawy, to the agenda of a general assembly set to elect a new higher committee.
According to a Wafd member, Al-Badawy called for the general assembly to exclude the group opposing him which he believed were loyal to his elections rival and former Wafd president Mahmoud Abaza, but he unexpectedly found himself faced with an opposition to his demand.
“People attacked us during demonstrations because of Al-Badawy’s dispute with Al-Dostor journalists and because of his satellite channel [Al Hayah] which is why I requested early elections to salvage Al-Wafd’s image,” said Abdel Aziz Al-Nahas, member of Al-Wafd’s higher committee.
“The problem is in the leadership of these parties not in the parties themselves because despite the presence of a variety of politicians, they represent the image of the party and affect its performance,” he added.
Similar to Al-Tagammu, opposition stream members at Al-Wafd said they will resign if Al-Badawy remains in power.
Old-new players
However, as conventional parties struggle for coherence, other groups are rising fast.
Al-Wasat party, a splinter group from the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) led by Abu El Ela Mady, and which received its official license just days after Mubarak stepped down, was considered by observers as a declaration of the Islamic stream’s new political role.
Shortly after it was recognized, the MB, the strongest opposition force despite being officially banned, announced the imminent launch of its Freedom and Justice Party, adopting more flexible stances in many of the group’s longstanding principles.
“The party will be the political voice of the group and will have membership rules; anyone will be welcome to join including Copts,” said Rashad Bayoumi, deputy head of the MB.
The MB youth however, staged their own coup earlier this week in a press conference where they announced recommendations to allow MB members to establish or join any other political party as long as it doesn’t contradict the principles of Islam and forming a youth division inside the MB to ensure youth participation in the group’s decision-making process.
Other prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood like Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh have called for a complete separation between the MB group and their new party. By time of press, it was reported that Abol Fotouh will be heading a new splinter part called Nahdet Masr (Egyptian Renaissance Party), currently under formation. This is different from another MB off shoot led by Ibrahim Zaafarani, called the Renaissance Party.
Nationalists have also seen an opportunity in the post revolution will Al-Karama Party announcing its plans to participate full force in the coming legislative elections as well as field their leader Hamdeen Sabahi as a candidate in the presidential elections.
“I receive daily calls from people wanting to join Al-Karama as more people believe in the need to participate in the upcoming phase, where political parties not movements must be active,” said Mohamed Bayoumi, general coordinator of Al-Karama.
Leftists splitting from Al-Tagammu initiated plans to revive the leftist stream in Egypt with a brand new party named “Popular Coalition Party;” a move seen by Al-Tagammu as an addition to the leftist stream that will bring much needed diversity.
Despite the dramatic burning of the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) headquarters, the ex-ruling party is still persisting, despite a court case calling to disband the party which many see as having monopolized and corrupted political life for decades.
The NDP is currently working on an internal re-structuring of the party which involves a complete overhaul including a change of name, slogan, programs and elections to choose a successor for the ousted president Hosni Mubarak who headed the party.
The NDP has announced plans to compete in the upcoming legislative elections but have yet to decide on the size of this participation.
Looking ahead
With new roles given to them, parties and political powers continue to adapt to their transformation from a neglected minority to competing rivals within a democratic structure.
“We have been kept inside offices by force during the reign of the ousted regime and now they are calling for elections without giving us adequate time to engage with the masses,” said Hussein Abdel Razek, general secretary of the leftist Tagammu party.
“Fortunately, the party will be holding a general conference next July and it will be an opportunity to revive its political line and elect new leadership,” he added.
Inspired by the youth revolution, most parties have given priority to popular mobilization and a higher status for youth within the party structure.
Al-Wafd Party’s Al-Awamy said that it is only logical that youth should at least constitute half of the higher committee rather than members over 70 years old.
“We want internal elections to choose a leadership based on its political performance not mixing business with politics as Al-Badawy did by giving jobs to general assembly members at his companies,” he said
The Brotherhood, however, have announced less ambitious plans.
“We won’t field a candidate at the presidential elections, we don’t want to participate in the next government and we don’t seek majority in the People Assembly,” Bayoumi said, explaining that the upcoming phase requires stability and mass participation and at the same time end the “scarecrow” of the MB.
Everyone is trying to impose new realities, Abdel Fattah says, as each side attempts to make the most gains out of the revolution.
