A number of lesser known opposition parties have formed the “Independent Party Current.”
Ahmed Al-Fadali hosted the announcement made Monday at the headquarters of his Democratic Peace Party.
The Nasserist Party joined the new coalition. The party’s representative, Ali Zarzour, said that it is important for parties in the opposition to come together ahead of the parliamentary elections.
“We learned our lesson from the previous parliamentary elections,” said Zarzour. “We now want to have a united front.”
Zarzour said that the Nasserist Party has been in talks with many different opposition coalitions, including the prominent National Salvation Front, in an effort to ensure unity to confront the electoral might of the Islamist parties and their coalitions.
Zarzour added that one reason they have to unify “is that we don’t have the money that the Islamists have. We are very small parties, so we need to be unified to provide an alternative.”
Tagammu Party leader, Hussein Abdel Razeq, said he actually knew nothing about the coalition and that the Tagammu name was included only because a member of their political office party, Nabil Zaki, took part in the Democratic Peace Party meeting.
Despite this, Razeq said Tagammu will hold a party meeting with Zaki to discuss the details of the coalition.
Tagammu is part of the largest opposition coalition, the NSF, and participated in opposition marches at the presidential palace earlier this month.
Razeq said, “we will compete together [in elections] under this bigger umbrella of the NSF, because it has liberal parties, leftists, social democrats. It has the most members of the opposition.”
Al-Dostour Party political spokesperson, Ahmed Al-Hawary, said that talks have been going on for months about mergers within the opposition in the event of parliamentary elections. He said there is no name for the evolving coalition, but that talks have been under way with a wide range of opposition parties that include Al-Adl Party, Strong Egypt, and Free Egypt Party.
At a Sunday press conference, NSF leader Mohamed Abul-Ghar confirmed that some parties inside the NSF will join forces to form a larger party, which will remain part of the Front and take part in elections.
Khaled Dawoud, spokesperson for the NSF, said that talks were scheduled to take place on Wednesday where the various parties within the Front would focus on the future and strategies for electoral cooperation.
State-owned news agency MENA said that the announcement of the Independent Party Current came with pledges to advocate on behalf of working class Egyptians and a “silent majority” that the Current said needs to be urged into political participation.
During the announcement, the Independent Party Current also called upon the president to stop the constitution, delay the appointment of members to the Shura Council, and railed against the attacks on the judiciary, particularly the recent assault of Ahmed Al-Zind, the head of the Judges’ Club.
