Egypt's liberal parties adopt Muslim Brotherhood's campaign tactics

CAIRO // Liberal and secular parties in Egypt are determined to make gains in a new round of parliamentary elections in the coming months by following the Muslim Brotherhood's campaign tactics, said an opposition politician. The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the more conservative Al Nour Party won more than 70 per cent of parliamentary seats in February elections. Parties such as the Free Egyptians, Al Wafd and the Egyptian Social Democratic party, which espouse a vision of a society based on liberal values and separation of religion and the state, were the big losers in the early stages of Egypt's transition to democracy. But a Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) ruling last month, which said that a third of the parliamentary election seats were unconstitutional, has offered a second chance to parties that struggled to match the appeal of Islamists in the last vote. Ahmed Said, the president of the Free Egyptians, a civil not religion-based party, is plotting a comeback in the new elections. His first tactical decision was to implement lessons learnt from the Brotherhood, which has built a strong following by offering health care and education services to poor Egyptians. With jobs and the economy being key issues, Mr Said's group is preparing to launch an non-government organisation (NGO) to help young people find jobs and offer training for entering the workforce. "We have a plan to within the first year have a branch within every governorate," he said. "The relationship between the NGO and the party will be like the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party, legally separate but related." Mr Said, whose party won just 12 of the 508 seats in the People's Assembly, said he believed the Islamist groups would not regain the same portion of seats when new elections were held. That an Islamist, Mohammed Morsi, won the presidential elections could influence Egyptians to shift their parliamentary votes to liberal parties to put a check on popular Islamist groups. "They [Islamists ] may get a majority, but not the same majority they had," said Mr Said. "I am betting on the awareness of the people who have seen how eager and hungry the Muslim Brotherhood are for power, for total domination." Independents are also likely to make a stronger showing in new parliamentary elections. The SCC ruling on the unconstitutionality of parliamentary elections was based on the fact that political parties were allowed to run candidates as independents as well as on party lists, which the court said hurt the chances of independent candidates and violated the constitution. Whether full elections will be held for the People's Assembly and Shura Council, the lower and upper houses of parliament, is not yet a certainty because of continuing court cases. A new election law is also expected that will detail the division of parliament between candidates running as independents and those running on party lists. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) completely dissolved parliament last month based on the SCC's ruling. Mr Morsi reconvened parliament two weeks later in a confrontational decree, saying that it should continue its work until new elections were held 60 days after a new constitution is written. The SCC hit back by freezing Mr Morsi's decree, but several lower courts are hearing cases that could still have a bearing on what comes next. The legal wrangling has afforded liberal and civil political forces an opportunity to work on how to connect with Egyptians. A cast of new political parties is being formed by candidates who ran against Mr Morsi during presidential elections that could lead to a more balanced parliament. The political office of Ahmed Shafiq, who lost to Mr Morsi in the second round of presidential elections by just 3.4 per cent of the votes, has announced he was forming a new party with the slogan "Egypt for all". Mr Shafiq, who was former president Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, rallied voters who feared Islamist domination of the government during the elections. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a self-styled moderate Islamist who came fourth in the first round of presidential elections with 18 per cent of the vote, is launching the Strong Egypt party, while Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who has a following among liberals, launched the Constitution Party in April. Mr Morsi's first months in the presidency and his success in running the government will also be under scrutiny, said Samer Soliman, one of the founders of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. "The opportunity now is that political Islam is in decline," he said. "Since the beginning of parliamentary elections, they have steadily lost supporters." The Social Democratics garnered a huge interest from Egyptians when it first formed last year, he said, but over time many members joined other groups that refused to join a broader alliance of liberal and civil parties. But he added: "The bad news is that secular parties are in a very weak state." "All the parties are fragmented, disorganised and are not able to hold on to constituents," Mr Soliman said. "We are still learning about how to build solid political parties from the beginning." Follow The National on & Bradley Hope on