which represents the largest opposition gathering in Egypt, in which it announced a comprehensive restructuring that included pushing the middle generation into its leadership, resembles a break between Nasserist and leftist parties on the one hand, and liberal parties on the other.
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The movement announced the cancellation of the Board of Trustees, with the selection of Engineer Akram Ismail as the general coordinator of the movement, and the formation of an executive committee that includes Salah Adly, Sayed El-Toukhy, Khaled Telema, Hamdi Qashta and Ahmed Kamel as members, with discussions continuing to complete the formation of the committee so that it is an expression of all the current components of the movement or those that will join from parties and public figures.
The movement considered the parties that decided to participate in the previous elections on the lists of the authorities to be outside of it.
In its statement issued last Friday evening, the movement stressed that parties that decided to participate in previous elections on the lists of the authorities, whatever their reasons, are considered to be outside the movement from this moment.
It also accepted “freezing the activities of parties that announced their self-freezing, so that these parties become unrepresented in the movement,” referring to the liberal parties that ran in the last parliamentary elections on the lists of the authorities, and raised the slogan of the available space.
In contrast, the Constitution Party, founded by former Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, announced its objection to the formation of the movement’s new executive office, pointing to a clear imbalance in political representation, where the Nasserist and leftist currents are predominantly represented, while the liberal current is not adequately represented, which does not reflect the true diversity within the movement.
He criticized the “exclusion” of some parties within the movement, the announcement of this, and the media coverage of the matter, which he described as exclusionary. He explained that this was not befitting of a movement with a history and a significant national role, and that it did not align with the values of dialogue and democracy that it advocates, nor did it contradict its objectives as a movement that encompasses all civil forces.
According to the Constitution Party, the statement issued regarding the formation was not presented to the General Secretariat before its publication. The party demanded that the statement be withdrawn and redrafted in a way that preserves the unity of the movement and respects all its components, and that any formulations that carry the meaning of exclusion in excluding or removing any party from the movement be canceled. It also demanded that statements and basic formations be presented to the General Secretariat before being adopted or published, and that the formation of the Executive Office be reconsidered in a way that ensures balanced representation of the various currents, especially the liberal and civil current.
He also called for adherence to the agreed mechanism for preparing the formation and benefiting from the role of Professor Akram Ismail in reaching a balanced and consensual formation, ensuring appropriate and clear representation for the Youth Secretariat within the Executive Office and selecting its representatives through a clear mechanism and in coordination with the members of the Secretariat, and opening a serious institutional dialogue between all components of the movement to reach a consensus that preserves the unity, strength and diversity of the movement.
The Egyptian Social Democratic Party, one of the parties that announced the suspension of its membership in the movement, in the wake of the recent parliamentary elections, said that it had endured transgressions and abuses at various stages from parties that had previously taken similar tactical positions.
In his statement, he emphasized that he did not request to return to the movement, but rather stressed that his return was contingent upon rebuilding the movement according to the principle: we work together on what we agree on, and each of us works individually on what we disagree on.
He stressed “the need for the movement not to be drawn into side battles or into skirmishes with parties that are supposed to be part of the civil opposition, even if it disagrees with them or has reservations about some of their positions. This is what our party is trying to do based on the slogan: whoever is not with us is not necessarily against us.”
The Egyptian Social Democratic Party stated that it has endured transgressions and abuses at various stages.
The movement affirmed its commitment to defending the Egyptian people's right to a dignified life and condemned the policies of starvation and economic dependency that have burdened Egyptian citizens across all social classes, the plundering of national wealth, the corruption that has crippled the national economy, the relentless and escalating debt, and the sale of factories, public assets, and state lands at rock-bottom prices. The movement asserts that this dire reality faced by Egyptians is intrinsically linked to the absence of democracy, the lack of genuine representation of the people, the intensification of social oppression, and the growing number of prisoners of conscience.
It affirmed its continued role as a peaceful, civilian alternative to this authority and its practices in all upcoming elections, and it reiterated its firm and unequivocal rejection of any attempt to amend the constitution.
The movement demanded the full implementation of the constitution's provisions regarding the people's demands for education, healthcare, and all fundamental rights, and an end to all forms of violations of freedom of expression. It asserted that the ongoing violation of the constitution is a primary cause of the deteriorating conditions of millions of Egyptians, and declared that it would not accept the use of any internal or external pretext to pass this amendment. It clarified its firm stance on Egyptian national security issues in the face of the genocidal policies practiced by the Zionist enemy, and condemned its declared threats to Egyptian national security; and its concern for the critical situation in brotherly Sudan; and its confrontation of the challenges of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Addis Ababa’s insistence on unilateral hegemony over the Nile waters; and its monitoring of the repercussions of the American aggression against Iran and its serious consequences for the security of the region and Egypt.
She concluded her statement: Our path is: an honest acknowledgment of error, clear mechanisms for reform, renewed leadership, and a continuous struggle for a free and democratic homeland, where social justice and human dignity prevail for all its citizens.
Last May, the movement witnessed a dispute among its components, after it issued a statement entitled “Violating the Constitution and Ignoring the Provisions of the Law,” in which it equated the demolition of the palace of the head of the Conservative Party, Akmal Qurtam, with the issues of the people of the islands of Warraq and Qursaya and the historical cemeteries.
The statement was met with widespread criticism from parties and prominent figures, who saw that the movement had shifted from defending public issues to championing a personal grievance of one of its leaders, which prompted the movement to apologize and withdraw the statement within two days, declaring that it had never become a platform for showcasing the personal grievances of its leaders.The crisis led to the Justice Party’s final withdrawal from the movement. In its expanded meeting that followed the crisis, the movement approved a comprehensive restructuring and began discussing the features of the next stage and the proposed vision for the new organizational structure, in an attempt to rearrange its internal affairs after one of its deepest crises since its founding in 2017.
The Qurtam Palace case represented the end of a series of disputes that plagued the movement, beginning with the division of its members in the dispute that arose between former Minister of Manpower Kamal Abu Eita and publisher Hisham Qassem, after the latter decided to sue the former and accuse him of “slander and defamation,” which led to Qassem being sentenced to months in prison.
The Qurtam Palace affair marked the end of a series of disputes that plagued the movement, beginning with the division among its members in the conflict that arose between former Minister of Manpower Kamal Abu Eita and publisher Hisham Qassem.
This was not the only disagreement that plagued the movement. With the launch of the national dialogue called for by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the leftist and nationalist parties adhered to the conditions set by the movement for participating in the dialogue, while the liberal parties refused to withdraw from the dialogue.
The dispute between Nasserists and leftists on one side and liberals on the other was renewed with the start of the last presidential elections. While the opposition left supported Ahmed Tantawi, the Egyptian Democratic Party announced that it would put forward its leader, Farid Zahran, while the Constitution Party put forward its leader, Jamila Ismail, who was unable to collect the required endorsements to run in the elections, while Zahran ran in the elections after obtaining the endorsement of a number of members of the House of Representatives.
The biggest disagreement that the movement witnessed was in the last parliamentary elections, where the Egyptian Democratic Party and the Justice Party raised the slogan of “the available space” and decided to run in the elections on the pro-government lists, while other liberal parties announced the establishment of the Liberal Alliance, while the leftist and Nasserist parties launched the Popular Front for Social Justice “People’s Right”.
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