(Photo: Courtesy of Misr AlQawia Party Facebook Fan Page)
Misr AlQawia Party announced that they would run in the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for 22 April.
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, president of the party and former presidential candidate, announced his party’s decision during a press conference held on Tuesday morning, explaining that the decision was made to prevent any one political group from monopolising power in Egypt.
“We will continue our peaceful struggle through participation in the elections to prevent any political group from controlling the state. All political groups should participate in ruling the country during this transitional period,” he stated.
Aboul Fotouh said the party had sent a list of suggestions to ensure electoral fairness to the Supreme Electoral Committee (SEC). The suggestions included announcing the names of judges and personnel supervising elections, ensuring those supervisors are not politically affiliated with any party, preventing election propaganda in mosques and churches, and preventing foreign funding of political parties.
The former Muslim Brotherhood figure asserted that his party would withdraw from elections if they receive information proving the elections are being rigged.
Aboul Fotouh claimed that foreign funds are sent from abroad to different political parties, adding that such funds make it difficult for his party to compete with the funded parties. He denied accepting any funds from foreign or local actors, adding that his party only accepts donations from citizens.
Aboul Fotouh said there is a possibility of forming an electoral coalition between Misr AlQawia, the Egyptian Current Party, and the Reform and Renaissance Party. However, he said that such a coalition would be electoral and not political. He added that the party will announce the number of parliamentary seats they will target in a press conference scheduled to be held in three days.
The conference also tackled the ongoing violence in Mansoura and Port Said, where Aboul Fotouh criticised security forces for dealing violently with protesters. He said the police are paid by the population through taxes and they should therefore protect citizens. “Our money should not be spent in buying chalets for top security officials. Rather they should use it for protecting peaceful protesters as any professional police force does,” he concluded.
