Egyptian political parties' coalition talks collapse over disagreements

CAIRO – 2 May 2018: Members and senior leaders of the Egyptian political party, Future of the Nation (Mostaqbal Watan), denounced the party’s earlier push to go into alliance with the "For Egypt" Association after the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

In a press statement by the party on Wednesday, secretary of the organization of Mostqabal Watan stated that they welcome any invitation to merge with other parties under a unified alliance as long as it comes in line with the party’s general vision, stressing that any attempts to change the party’s internal regulations and name would be met with rejection.

Talks reportedly failed due to the said association's alleged attempts to get in the driving seat and alter the party’s internal organizational and managerial structure, unloading it of its young leaders and influential cadres.




Reports of a possible coalition agreement between the two political heavyweights started a week ago after a series of joint meetings were conducted between the two parties’ leaders.

In addition to the mentioned reason for the collapse of negotiations, as media outlets reported earlier, the coalition talks between the two sides were stalled due to the conflicting views regarding the structure of the new alliance, which would have bore the name of The Future of Egypt.

The party further denounces the attempts to change of the party’s identity as well as the name that they were know with over the past four years, according to the party’s statement issued on Wednesday.

Presently, Mostaqbal Watan possesses the second highest number seats in the Parliament and has about 340,000 members across Egypt, while the "For Egypt" Association was formed back in 2016 and comprises popular figures in the political scene.

Amid a lack of serious competition, and shortly after the conclusion of the presidential election in Egypt, which saw an easy re-election of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, talks about reviving political life in Egypt started to emerge again.

The Parliament’s majority coalition, Support Egypt, launched a bid to get all the effective political parties to merge into one unified alliance to resuscitate the deserted political life.

In an interview with Egypt Today, MP Ali Abdel Wanis, member of the coalition, said that the idea aims to emulate parliaments around the world by forming a party that acts as a political backer of the state.

Abdel Wanis added that merging the parties of the coalition will help prevent contradictory opinions in case a certain party and the coalition hold different views.

MP Mohamed Al-Sewedi, head of the coalition, said that a legislative and constitutional study will be conducted to see if such a move can be made.

Seemingly supporting the move, Ali Abdel Aal said that the coalition meets all conditions that would make it a strong political party, adding that political life cannot be on the right track without a majority party.

However, it is likely that the pro-government parliamentary coalition will face a legal challenge if its leaders decide to merge its parties. Abdel Wanis told Egypt Today that an amendment is required in order for the move to take place.

Article 110 of the Constitution stipulates that Members of Parliament may be stripped of their legislative seat if they lose the conditions for membership on the basis of which they were elected.

The article also explains that stripping the membership of a parliamentarian needs the approval of two thirds of Parliament members; the Support Egypt coalition holds around 400 of 597 seats in Parliament.

According to law, independent parliamentarians are not permitted to become party members during their term in office, and vice versa. In addition, a party member cannot change parties mid-term, said Constitutional Law Professor Fathi Fekri to Masrawy, adding that MPs have to preserve the conditions of which they gained people’s trust.