Free Egyptians Party merges with Democratic Front

The liberal Free Egyptians Party announced its merger with the Democratic Front Party at a press conference held on Saturday.

The new party will be consolidated under the helm of the Free Egyptian Party.

In his opening speech, Ahmed Saeed, head of the Free Egyptians Party, said the merger will result in greater competitiveness during the parliamentary elections and better coordination, especially if proportional lists are used in the electoral system, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. He added that the merged party had not yet decided on the type of electoral coalitions it will pursue.

Democratic Front Party head Osama al-Ghazaly Harb said at the conference that the decision to move all members of the Democratic Front Party to the Free Egyptians Party came after a thorough study of the legal standing of both parties. He called on other liberal parties to follow suit. The party’s secretary general, Amr Aly, said that the merger increases the standing of liberal politics in Egypt.

The Free Egyptians Party also said in a statement that the merger will mean a stronger and unified civil bloc in general, which is a political necessity for the birth of a powerful liberal coalition.

Businessman Naguib Sawiris, a major financer of the Free Egyptians, was quoted by the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper as saying that the merger is the beginning of other mergers in the civil bloc. He alluded to the Dostour Party but did not detail who that party might merge with.

Sawiris also called for rallying around a “yes” vote on the constitutional draft put together by a committee appointed by the pro-military government.

Also quoted by Al-Ahram was Refaat al-Saeed, the former leader of the leftist Tagammu Party, who said the merger is a rare moment in the history of Egyptian political parties and a most welcome one for healthy party politics.

The Democratic Front Party was founded in 2007, a time of troubled party politics in Egypt under the rule of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. While the party gathered a number of intellectuals, public figures and politicians, it quickly descended into internal power struggles.

The younger Free Egyptians Party was established in 2011 following the January 25 revolution, and also attracted a number of public figures and intellectuals. It too faced difficulties when a group of members collectively resigned after several members from the formerly ruling National Democratic Party and remnants of the Mubarak regime joined.

A source within the Free Egyptians Party told Mada Masr that internal elections will decide who is to lead the new merged party, but he expected Harb to be the new leader given his wider political popularity.