The Social Popular Alliance Party suffered 304 resignations in response to the party’s “diversion from its revolutionary purpose” on Saturday, according to a statement by the former members.
Among the highest ranking members to walk out were spokeswoman Mona Ezzat, Secretary of the Cairo Governorate Akram Ismail, Central Committee member Elham Alaidarus, political bureau members Hassanein Kishk and Khaled Abdel-Hamid, Vice-President of Political Affairs and Labour Emad Attia, and Secretary for the Governorate of Alexandria Susan Nada.
The Alliance, led by Abel Ghaffar Shokr, is a leftist party founded in October 2011. It ran in the 2012 parliamentary elections and won 1.5% of the parliamentary seats.
A statement released and signed by the resigning members denounced Muslim Brotherhood rule before expressing disappointment with the party’s choice to align themselves with the army, instead of “siding with objectivity.”
The signatories said that “disagreement and differences between the party members and leaders was healthy, allowing the party to evolve throughout the past year, however new party leaders have attempted to halt this success.”
The now ex-members say they were dissatisfied with the party’s position after 30 June, claiming that party leaders chose to “defend the autocratic state and immoral practices of the police.”
“After 30 June, the party worked to obstruct any initiative for reconciliation, while also failing to clarify its position regarding military trials and police brutality,” the statement read.
Those resigning also highlighted that the party had flourished during the 2011 parliamentary elections, gaining considerable success in the process before a “number of individuals with suspicious ideologies won the party’s [internal] elections causing the deterioration to begin.”
The 304 individuals expressed their discontent with the path taken by the leaders, claiming that they had “attempted to divert the path of the party… incorporating members of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.”
Former media coordinator Karim Shawqy said that he personally believes that “party elections were fraudulent with previous members of the Tagammu Party pushing the party to be led by a bunch of opportunists.”
