Further resign from Shafiq's party, objecting to MB connection

CAIRO – 23 November 2017: More members of the Egyptian National Movement Party led by Ahmed Shafiq have resigned because of their opposition to the party’s connection with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Some of the latest members to submit their resignations are Samir Eid, the party’s secretary of administrative and financial affairs, Nuhair Ahmed Sayyed, secretary of external relations and Ehab Moussa.

Ehab mentioned in his resignation that he supports the re-election of President Sisi because of his great successes in recent times.

Nuhair declared her resignation on Facebook saying: "I declare that I do not belong to any political party. We all serve our country through our work, which our dear Egypt needs at this stage."

The National Movement Party announced that Ahmed Shafiq will run in the 2018 presidential elections.

Sayyed asserted that nothing will stop Shafiq from running for the presidential elections.
He told Masr al-Arabiya that he met with Shafiq in the United Arab Emirates and discussed many issues about the party, in addition to the Egyptian local affairs. “Shafiq has so many supporters in Egypt,” Sayyed stressed.

She noted that Shafiq did not want to announce his intention to run for president because he could not find the right time to do so until now. Moreover, Shafiq did not officially inform the party about his decision.

Earlier this week, Secretary General of the Party in Alexandria, Mohamed El Helw, claimed that the National Movement Party recently received support from the Muslim Brotherhood, which led to internal divisions. Shafiq derided these claims as being unsupported by evidence.

The general conference of the National Movement Party is scheduled to be held in the last week of December to prepare for the party’s internal elections. This comes amid expectations of the announcement of Raouf al-Sayyid, the current deputy of the President, to run for the presidency of the party.