The merger of 25 liberal political parties into the Egyptian Conference party under the leadership of former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is not yet official, Daily News Egypt has learned.
Egyptian newspapers reported Tuesday that Moussa had announced the merger of 25 parties including the Ghad Al-Thawra Party, the Democratic Front Party and the Free Egyptians Party, in a press conference late Monday.
The Free Egyptians Party official spokesperson Ahmed Khairy told Daily News Egypt his party had not joined an alliance nor merged with Moussa’s party, however.
“This is not true, we merely attended the meeting and that is all [Moussa] said. We are currently looking at all the coalitions and alliances, we are studying all the options,” said Khairy.
Both the Ghad Al-Thawra and Democratic Front Party confirmed their merger into the new entity, however. Ghad Al-Thawra leader Ayman Nour was appointed official spokesperson for the Egyptian Conference.
He said in a statement that the Egyptian Conference would form a presidential council made up of the leaders of the parties that merged to form it.
“This newly formed collective strives to protect the state’s intuitions and preserve their independence, specifically the judiciary, military and police. This new party, itself composed of a merger of parties, will be a member of the Egyptian Nation Alliance that was announced earlier,” said Moussa in the Monday press conference.
According to Nour, not all parties have made final decisions regarding their stance on merging into a larger party. He added that he expected they would make their final decisions by next Sunday.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Free Egyptians Party, the Ghad Al-Thawra Party, the Democratic Front Party, the Green Party, the Democratic Generation Party, the Egyptian Liberation Party, the Revolution Party, the Egyptian Arab Socialist Party, the Social Peace Party, the Conservative Party, the Reform and Development Party, the Egyptian Citizen Party, the Egyptian Arab Union Party, the Young Egypt Party, the Ahrar Party, the Arab Vanguard, the Revolutionary Youth Union, the Social Justice Party, the Freedom Party, the Awareness Party and Amr Moussa’s presidential campaign.