Dostour Party makes history with Coptic woman president

Hala Shukrallah was elected as the head of the liberal Dostour Party on Friday, becoming the first Coptic woman to head a prominent political party in Egypt’s history.

Alongside Shukrallah’s election, the party nominated former Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei as an honorary president as a symbolic gesture, she told the US-based CNN website on Sunday.

Shukrallah said in the interview that her beliefs and that of her party veered to the left.

The trailblazing politician won her seat with 108 out of 189 votes, ahead of former television presenter Gamila Ismail, who won 56 votes, and opponent Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, who trailed the women with only 23 votes.

The Dostour Party does not yet back any one candidate in the upcoming presidential election, Shukrallah said, but would soon issue a statement outlining standards to safeguard the democratic process and social justice.

The candidate that would be able to implement those standards would get the party’s endorsement, “following an internal vote within the party,” Shukrallah said.

Dostour Party member Ahmed Fahmy told Mada Masr that Shukrallah is known for her struggle for human rights and labor rights, and reached the party’s leadership via general consensus.

“The party aims at building a strong opposition,” Fahmy said, adding that the first issue the party must address is how to achieve unity within its ranks.

The party was recently hit by a wave of mass resignations, including activists Bothiana Kamel and George Ishaq.

However, Dostour Party member Alfred Raouf told Mada Masr that in fact the resignations did not exceed 2 percent of the party’s members. He asserted that Shukrallah would reunite the party’s ranks and give them a “push” in their political activities.

As a development consultant, Shukrallah is expected to create a cohesive plan of action for the party and attract new membership, Raouf added.

The Dostour Party would most likely support a social democrat in the upcoming election, Raouf continued.

But “the party includes various streams of thought, and it is hard to tell which candidate will be chosen,” he explained.

And in contradiction with Shukrallah’s statement to CNN, Raouf doubted that ElBaradei would have any executive role within party.