A Legal Islamic Political Party in Egypt?
With only a few weeks until the beginning of three rounds of elections to decide the make-up of the Egyptian Parliament, an eleventh-hour decision by a panel of legal experts might allow for the formation of the nation’s first ever Islamic political party.
Founders of the al-Wasat party have been trying for nearly ten years to get official party status. Its applications have been turned down twice in the past.
The Egyptian constitution bans political parties with a religious agenda. It has long been argued that religious parties may sow sectarian conflict in a religiously divided nation like Egypt. But unlike other Islamist groups, al-Wasat has invited Copts to join its ranks.
The party manifesto even says a Christian can become head of state in a predominantly Muslim society – a radical departure from traditional Sharia law. Their policies also detail full citizenship rights for non-Muslims and women.
Under Egyptian law, the programme of a new party has to be different from that of existing parties to be granted a licence to operate.
The last time al-Wasat applied for a licence, the committee in charge of licensing political parties – which is controlled by the ruling National Democratic party – concluded that al-Wasat did not meet this condition and rejected its application.
The founders appealed against the decision, and a panel of legal experts concluded that the party programme was indeed distinctive. A court was due to rule on the matter on 1 October, but the decision has been postponed upon the request of the government, sparking claims that the ruling NDP does not want the party to contest the forthcoming parliamentary election due in early November.
Regardless of the politics of the situation, Copts in Egypt are still cautious of any party that calls itself Islamic. Having spent years fighting for the liberation of their people from persecution and for human rights in Egypt, they regard this move as dangerous, regardless of the party’s intentions.
There is no doubt the al-Wasat party is a moderate Islamic party, unlike the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which holds seventeen ‘independent’ seats in the national parliament. Al-Wasat, meaning moderate in Arabic, calls for the implementation of Islamic Sharia law, but it adopts a modern interpretation which gives women and Christians full citizenship rights and guarantees freedom of expression and belief.
But if extreme religious parties are unconstitutional in Egypt, certainly there would be a temptation for politically-motivated Islamists to establish a moderate party, which could be legalised if they do not exclusively herald Islamic interests. The potential exists for al-Wasat to operate like a crowbar wedged under a window frame. First the point is wedged under the frame and then it is opened wider and wider from its small beginnings.
An Islamic political party, of any persuasion, in a predominately Islamic nation like Egypt could potentially be can of worms for a Christian minority already struggling with human rights.
GORDON MOYES
