Above and below the bridges in central Cairo, billboards promoting the National Front Party are spreading: the new political offspring that brings together a mix of politicians, businessmen and clerics, and that has been launched to play a new role on the Egyptian political scene. This coincides with the party’s noticeable activity in various governorates to collect powers of attorney, a few days after the party announced its bid to establish itself.
The party’s official page on the social media site “Facebook” has published dozens of posts documenting the party’s growing activity, from collecting powers of attorney from citizens, to the participation of the party’s founders in Christmas celebrations, to carnival-like tours in the streets of central Cairo.
This active movement, which has faced no security or political obstacles, comes a few weeks after the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal filed by opposition politician Ahmed Tantawi, head of the Hope Current Party, and Mohamed Abu El-Diyar (a lawyer), in case No. 16336 of 2023, Matariya misdemeanours. In mid-December 2024, the court rejected the appeal against the ruling issued against them of one year in prison, suspended, and a fine of EGP 20,000, in addition to barring them from running in parliamentary elections for five years. The ruling was also issued against 21 other defendants in the case, sentencing them to one year in prison to be served, on charges of circulating election-related papers without permission from the competent authorities, by inviting citizens to sign popular powers of attorney.
Neither supporter nor opponent
Under the slogan “Egypt for All”, Assem El-Gazzar, the former Minister of Housing, delivered the founding statement of the National Front Party at a conference broadcast by media outlets, foremost among them those owned by United Media Services, which is affiliated with one of the sovereign bodies.
The party’s founding body comprised 54 members, among them former and current ministers and MPs, members of the National Dialogue and of the Coordination of Parties’ Youth, politicians, journalists, businessmen and clerics. This reflects the party’s orientation towards courting the various segments of Egyptian society, from politicians and businessmen to those interested in religious affairs.
Among the prominent names in the founding body: Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service; Ali Abdel Aal, former Speaker of Parliament; Counsellor Alaa Fouad, former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Major General Adel Labib, former Minister of Local Development; Major General Mahmoud Shaarawy; and Lieutenant General Mohamed Tarek.
The line-up also included Osman Shaalan, former president of Zagazig University, and Ahmed Saeed Shalaby, head of the Department of Architecture at Cairo University, an academic representation that will necessarily influence the political programmes the party will issue after its founding or during the parliamentary elections.
The presence of prominent businessmen such as Mohamed Abou El-Enein, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Essam Ibrahim Gomaa, Kamel Abou Ali and Ayman El-Gamil reflects the party’s interest in attracting the support of the private sector and investors, as well as securing sources of funding, whether for the party in general or during election campaigns in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The founding body also included a large number of current and former members of parliament, such as Mohamed Abou El-Enein, Dalia El-Saadany, Dr Mahmoud Moslem and MP Soliman Wahdan, which indicates the party’s quest to strengthen its presence in the legislative arena during the next term. Representing youth, the line-up included Youstina Ramy and Ahmed El-Hamamsy (coordinators of party youth). The line-up also included representatives of women, art, culture and the media, and even of the local administration sector and development services.
Alongside politicians, the party included prominent religious figures such as Dr Shawki Allam (the former Grand Mufti of the Republic), Sayed El-Idrisi (sheikh of the Sufi orders) and Sheikh Fayez Abu Harb, which indicates the party’s desire to reach out to conservative religious and social groups, especially in villages and governorates with a religious and conservative character.
On the other hand, the role of Sinai businessman Ibrahim Al-Organi, head of the Union of Arab Tribes, receded after the criticism directed at him and at the party following the meeting held on 4 December 2024. Al-Organi’s name was also absent from the founding body after the party’s name was changed from “Egypt National Union” to “National Front Party”. Informed sources tell Zawia3 that despite Al-Organi’s absence from the founding body, he still takes part in the party’s meetings and is considered one of its main funders. He was replaced by his son, Essam Al-Organi, following the controversy and commotion over his name, which had been a point of disagreement within the sovereign agencies. Diaa Rashwan explained that Essam’s name “is there in his capacity as a representative of Sinai, and he was nominated by the people of Sinai themselves.”
Pro-regime news websites, especially those owned by the United Media company, which is affiliated with a sovereign agency in Egypt, had ignored the first meeting of the party’s founding body in December 2024, but they returned in force to cover the founding conference and the party’s various events after Ibrahim Al-Organi’s name receded and he was replaced on the scene by (Assem El-Gazzar and Diaa Rashwan).
Commenting, Amr Abdel Rahman, a professor of political science, says that it is difficult to understand the matter of the new Front party without understanding the current authorities’ view of parties in general, whether supportive or opposition. There is one main feature that distinguishes the current regime from any authoritarian regime in Egypt’s history, which is that the current ruling elite, headed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, opposes the idea of a single ruling party.
He continues, speaking to Zawia3, that this has been clear since he first ran in 2014, when his message was very clear: “I am not affiliated with anyone, and no one has the authority to speak in my name”. This is because he saw with his own eyes what can happen if the ruling party turns into a tool serving the private interests of its members and becomes a hotbed of corruption, which may reflect negatively on him, as happened under former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak with the group of National Democratic Party businessmen.
The political science professor adds: “For example, the Mostaqbal Watan Party is the party with the parliamentary majority. And I think it is no coincidence that the President has not met with this party even once, and has not mentioned it in his speeches and statements, whether positively or negatively. This reflects El-Sisi’s pattern of thinking, which he has held to for ten years. More important than the President’s keenness to keep his distance from all parties is that he does not want any loyalist party to have a real majority. That is, he wants all loyalist parties to depend fundamentally on him, so that no loyalist party can claim to hold the majority or to represent a source of authority or a centre of power.”
Abdel Rahman points out that what distinguishes the Front party is that it brings together a newly formed network of interests, not an old one like the other parties. For example, Ibrahim Al-Organi, whose name rose to prominence over the past two years with the war on Gaza, and Diaa Rashwan, whose star rose with the National Dialogue and not before it. Thus, the party appears to be a gathering of a newly formed elite of interests seeking to obtain its share of the seats in the upcoming parliament as part of the loyalist quota, and it remains up to each loyalist party to strive to obtain the largest share of seats inside parliament.
In this context, Amr Hashem Rabie, an expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, believes that the experience of the “Mostaqbal Watan” party, which was founded in 2014 with the support of the security agencies, was pivotal on the Egyptian political scene. The party led the parliamentary elections twice, and mobilised the masses to support the authorities on many occasions.
He adds, speaking to us, that Egypt is today witnessing the emergence of a new party entity seeking to compete with “Mostaqbal Watan”, and perhaps to replace it after its decline in recent years. What is striking about this new party is its declaration that it does not seek power, which contradicts the essence of political parties, which usually aim to represent segments of society and to influence public policy.
Rabie points out that building a strong party requires a broad popular base and leaders who emerge from society itself, not from the traditional elites, stressing the importance of the party being independent of political and security influence and operating with financial transparency to guarantee the integrity of the political process.
He affirms that parties must operate in a democratic environment that gives them freedom of movement and provides equal opportunities for all parties to participate in the political process, and that only parties born from the womb of the people and operating within a democratic framework are capable of bringing about real change on the Egyptian political scene.
The public sphere
The National Front Party’s campaign to collect the powers of attorney needed for its founding was launched, in accordance with the Political Parties Law, which requires the collection of 5,000 powers of attorney to establish any political entity. The campaign saw notable activity in various neighbourhoods and governorates, as processions of cars equipped with loudspeakers and banners bearing the party’s logo toured, with the participation of male and female citizens as they headed to Real Estate Registry offices, to mobilise citizens to issue the required powers of attorney, according to what “Zawia3” observed from eyewitnesses in several areas.
This activity comes less than a year after the security pursuits that targeted a number of male and female citizens as they sought to issue powers of attorney for the “Hope Current” party, which Egyptian opposition figure Ahmed Tantawi is trying to establish and which he announced in January 2024. Only 24 hours after Tantawi announced the founding statement of the “Hope Current” party, a security campaign began against those who had issued powers of attorney to register the party. On 6 April 2024, five others were arrested and the prosecution charged them with offences such as joining a terrorist group and misusing social media, over their issuing powers of attorney to establish the party and their participation in a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine in front of the Journalists Syndicate.
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression also documented the restrictions faced by citizens wishing to issue powers of attorney for the “Hope Current” party: the issuing of powers of attorney was refused at Real Estate Registry offices outside the governorates to which the citizens belong, only two offices per governorate were designated for issuing party powers of attorney, and there was security harassment that led to the arrest of some.
On the other hand, Elham Eidarous, representative of the founders of the Bread and Freedom Party, believes that the central question about the new National Front Party concerns the extent of its independence. Does this party genuinely seek to represent segments of society and take part in pluralistic elections, or is it merely an artificial party to create a false image of political pluralism?
She points out, speaking to Zawia3, that Egypt is preparing for parliamentary elections, adding that the 2020 elections were a “political scandal” that turned into a referendum on a single list without real political alternatives. She expresses her concern that the authorities may be in the process of creating an artificial pluralism to avoid a repeat of what happened in the previous elections.
The representative of the founders of the Bread and Freedom Party explains that the figures put forward to found the new Front party and its political discourse indicate that the party was designed from the top and not from the grassroots, which raises questions about the purpose of founding it when several pro-government parties already exist. She asks whether the authorities will allow the party to compete genuinely in the upcoming elections, or will continue to run the elections with a unified list, as happened in previous elections under the name of the “National List”, which included all the parties loyal to them.
Elham affirms that the opposition demands the formation of a proportional list that allows genuine participation in the parliamentary elections and provides equal opportunities for all parties, stressing that freedom of political movement must be guaranteed for all parties, and pointing out that the new party organises its events freely while opposition parties face obstacles and restrictions when trying to establish party powers of attorney.
She continues: “Real Estate Registry offices hesitate to accept powers of attorney for the Bread and Freedom Party in many governorates, and these obstacles cause citizens delays and force them to leave without completing the procedures. Allowing the Front party to move freely amid these strict restrictions on gatherings under the Protest Law shows that the current political scene is artificial. So do the authorities really intend to respond to the demands for genuinely pluralistic elections or not?”
Engineering party life
The National Front Party, according to statements by a number of members of the founding body, aims to launch the largest political alliance to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections, by building broad political understandings with the existing parties. In this context, the former Minister of Housing and representative of the party’s founders, Assem El-Gazzar, affirmed that “the National Front does not seek to achieve a parliamentary majority, but will contest the elections with the largest national political alliance with the existing parties.”
Within this framework, Amr Hashem Rabie points out, speaking to us, that the founding of the National Front Party and the revival of some parties that had been dormant during the past period come within the framework of rearranging the political scene in Egypt. He adds that the general political environment is subject to restrictive laws that obstruct the work of parties and lacks genuine pluralism, which makes this new party merely a political arm within the regime’s preparations for the upcoming electoral contests. He believes this comes in the context of reshaping the tools of power after Major General Abbas Kamel’s exit from the scene, which may indicate the possibility of introducing new constitutional amendments.
For his part, Mostafa Shawky, a politician and human rights advocate, believes that the founding of the new party is an additional step towards ending what remains of the National Dialogue truce, which began with the Egyptian Family Iftar in April 2022 and ended with the close of the first round of the dialogue.
He believes that the authorities are seeking to create an illusory image of political pluralism, without any actual intention of issuing a proportional list law, which makes it likely that closed electoral lists will continue in the upcoming elections. He points out that the talk of opening the public sphere and of political pluralism has not materialised on the ground, the proof being the outcomes of the National Dialogue, which have not yet been put into effect, and that the aim of founding the new party is to prepare an electoral scene that does not require the participation of opposition parties, within a fabricated political framework.
The Egyptian Constitution was amended in 2019 to allow President El-Sisi to remain in power until 2030. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by loyalist parties, especially the Mostaqbal Watan Party, approved these amendments by an overwhelming majority. The amendments strengthened the role of the army and expanded the powers of the President, especially with regard to the appointment of judges.
The amendments included Article 140, which extended the presidential term from four years to six years, while maintaining the ban on holding office for more than two consecutive terms. A transitional article was added allowing El-Sisi’s presidential term, which began in 2018, to be extended to six years instead of four, and it also allowed him to run for a third term in the 2023 elections on the basis of the increase in the length of the presidential term. The amendments also created the Senate, whose membership is no fewer than 180 members, two-thirds of whom are elected while the President appoints the remaining third.
In addition, the duties of the armed forces were expanded under Article 200 to include protecting the constitution and democracy, and preserving the basic components of the state and its civilian nature. The amendments allowed the President to appoint one or more vice-presidents, as well as to appoint the heads of judicial bodies and the Public Prosecutor from a list of candidates proposed by those bodies. The amendments also allocated a 25% quota of the seats in the House of Representatives to women. The pro-regime “Support Egypt” bloc had submitted a proposal to amend the constitution, and it was approved by 531 MPs out of the 596 members of the House of Representatives, which is controlled by the pro-Sisi majority.
The question that arises now: is the current regime seeking to amend the constitution once again to extend its term in power, as happened under Mubarak? And will the closure of the public sphere by decisions of the regime continue, with clear disregard for the opposition and the creation of an artificial political scene? The answer to these questions may become clear in the coming months, according to politicians we spoke to.
Editorial correction: The first version of the report gave the party’s name as “Democratic Front Party” and “Al-Gabha Al-Watani Party”; the correct name is “National Front Party” (Hizb Al-Gabha Al-Wataniya), according to the party’s founding statement.
Editorial correction: The first version of the report stated that the Egyptian Constitution requires the collection of 5,000 powers of attorney to found the party; in fact, this requirement is contained in Political Parties Law No. 40 of 1977 and its amendments.
Editorial correction: The first version of the report stated that the 2019 amendments abolished the ban on holding the presidency for more than two consecutive terms; in fact, the amended Article 140 maintained this ban, and it is the transitional article that allowed the President to run again. The first version also stated that this candidacy took place in the 2024 elections; in fact, the presidential elections were held in December 2023.
Editorial correction: The first version of the report stated that the Senate consists of 180 members; in fact, the amended constitution stipulated that its membership be no fewer than 180 members, and Law No. 141 of 2020 set their number at 300 members.
