Egyptian media has reported that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has joined a thirteen party coalition with aim of “establishing a parliament that is representative of all political forces in society and the creation of a national unity government. According to a report on Ahram Online:
The “National Coalition for Egypt,” which was launched yesterday at the headquarters of the Wafd Party, has been created with the aim of establishing a parliament that is representative of all political forces in society and the creation of a national unity government. The member parties include the Muslim Brotherhood’s newly formed Freedom and Justice Party, the Wafd, El Ghad, El Adl, El Tagammu, El Nasserist, El Amal, El Wasat, El Nour, El Karama, El Tawheed El Araby and Masr El Horreya. In the statement, read by Refaat Said, the head of the Tagammu Party, at a press conference after yesterday’s meeting, the coalition said that they decided to join together in order to help ease the country into a democracy that will implement the values of the January 25 revolution, freedom, justice, democracy and equal citizenship. He added that all parties have agreed to the establishment of a civil state with equal citizenship where rule of law will prevail.” For these reasons, Said noted, the coalition has decided to mobilize various political forces in the country to achieve democracy, economic prosperity and national development for Egypt, beginning with the formation of a new parliament and Shura council and the drafting of a new constitution. The coming period, he noted, is “the most important and crucial period in modern Egyptian history,” cannot be handled by one political force and requires intensive collaboration from different factions of Egyptian society. The coalition will form a committee to work on creating a new unified law for the parliamentary elections, another to coordinate the upcoming elections set for September and a third to create a manifesto that will include the guidelines to be followed by coalition members. A permanent treasury for the coalition will also created.
A earlier post has reported that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s political party was forming an electoral coalition with the Wafd Party, one of Egypt’s oldest liberal parties. It is not yet clear with the National Coalition for Egypt is actually an electoral coalition,