Mohamed Badran resigns as president of Nation’s Future Party

The Nation’s Future Party – largely seen in 2014 as the political party closest to the ruling regime – announced in a statement issued on Monday that party President Mohamed Badran has resigned.

In his resignation letter published by the party, Badran explained that he was unable to balance his responsibilities toward the party and the academic path he embarked on in the United States 9 months ago, a path he sees as his national role. Badran added that he would continue to “be a soldier in the Egyptian state's battles.”

The party announced in January that Badran, 24, had traveled to the US to pursue academic studies, prompting speculation about the political future of the youngest party president in Egypt.

Badran had been dubbed “Sisi’s protégé” after he appeared by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s side during the celebration to inaugurate expansion work to the Suez Canal in 2015. Continuing his meteoric rise, the Nation’s Future Party won the largest number of seats in the 2015 parliamentary elections, amid speculation of connections to the state.

The specifics of Badran’s whereabouts and his studies have been unclear since his departure in January. The head of the party’s parliamentary block has served as acting president and is expected to be announced as Badran’s permanent replacement in a press conference that the party announced would take place on Monday.

The party has witnessed severe internal conflict in recent months, culminating in several mass resignations in different governorates. Most recently, the party’s media coordinator and executive board member Ahmed Samy turned in his resignation, saying that his decision was a response to “confusion, divisions and people following their own whims to seek positions of power, which has affected the party’s credibility and performance in the Egyptian streets.” The party issued an official statement on Monday, claiming officials had dismissed Samy two months ago and that he had falsely claimed to be a leading party figure.

Nation’s Future Party legal representative Mohamed Ammar is quoted in the statement as saying that the party will pursue measures to see Samy charged with impersonation.

The party’s new spokesperson Ahmed Hassan also responded to Samy’s allegations, claiming in an official statement that the party had decided to cancel the position of media coordinator as part of structural changes, stripping Samy of his leadership role.