Islamist Wasat Party to leave national alliance

The Wasat Party (Center Party) said on Thursday that it would work outside the framework of the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL) — an Islamist coalition formed in opposition to the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi. 

The centrist Islamist party issued a statement on its official Facebook page saying that it would work under its own “national umbrella” to achieve the goals of the January 25 revolution.

The statement added that, despite the party’s reservations about those in power over the last three and a half years, it feels change could have been brought about through more democratic means and not a “coup,” as on July 3 last year when Morsi was deposed.

“The party stated its position clearly since the first day following the July 3 coup, and its support of the will of the people, whoever they were, through democratic procedures and in a neutral political atmosphere,” the statement continued.

The Wasat Party is a moderate Islamist party, founded in 1996 in affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Lawyer and vice president of the Wasat Party, Essam Sultan, was detained on charges of incitement to kidnap, torture, and kill opponents of Morsi in the area around the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in in Nasr City last summer.