The presidency has called on all political forces to attend an upcoming dialogue session. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the presidency said it would announce the date of the next session soon.
The Strong Egypt Party decided to boycott all the upcoming national dialogue sessions, describing President Mohamed Morsi’s attitude towards initiatives proposed at the sessions as “neglectful”.
Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, party head and former presidential candidate, attended the previous dialogue session where he proposed his party’s initiative.
The initiative called for forming a committee that would include Aboul Fotouh, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) head Saad Al-Katatni, vice-chair of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat El-Shater, in addition to leading figures at the National Salvation Front (NSF) Mohamed ElBaradei and Hamdeen Sabahi.
According to the Strong Egypt Party, the committee should tackle three main issues, namely discussing the formation of a new national government, investigating the violent clashes that took place across Egypt after 25 January, and establishing a mechanism for implementing the results of the dialogue sessions.
Mohamed El-Mohandes, a spokesperson for the Strong Egypt party, accused the presidency of ignoring his party’s initiative as well as initiatives proposed by other political groups.
The Salafi Al-Nour Party also proposed an initiative, while several political figures signed an Al-Azhar document renouncing violence. El-Mohandes claimed that the presidency ignored the initiatives, adding that his party will not participate in any upcoming dialogue session, until Morsi employed a means for implementing dialogue results.
“We are afraid that the dialogue sessions might continue until parliamentary elections are held without reaching a tangible result,” explained El-Mohandes.
On the upcoming parliamentary elections, El-Mohandes said that his party is considering boycotting them, believing that a boycott is the most important peaceful method of applying political pressure.
The party spokesperson also mentioned that his party did not accept the way Morsi appointed General Prosecutor Tala’at Abdallah, adding that they would like Abdallah to resign and not to be sacked by the president. “Morsi does not have the legal power to sack Abdallah now. We want him to resign to avoid going through a legal crisis.”
In preparation for the upcoming dialogue session, the Al-Nour’s parliamentary coordinator, Hossam Ragab, mentioned that his party was supposed to hold a meeting with the NSF to discuss the possibility of the opposition group attending the next dialogue session. However, he said the meeting was postponed, claiming he does not know when it will take place.
Two weeks ago, Al-Nour and the NSF announced reaching a unified vision for resolving the current crisis. The vision included forming a new government, appointing a new prosecutor general and forming a constitutional amendments committee.
