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Egyptian nationalism Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture. Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Egyptian nationalism first manifes ...

Liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

Secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

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Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

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Arab Liberal Federation The Arab Liberal Federation (ALF; ar, الاتحاد الليبرالي العربي) is a network of liberal political parties, organizations and activists from Arab countries. It was formed in 2008 in Cairo under the name of Network of Arab L ...

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House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

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Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

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Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, website = , country = Egypt The Free Egyptians Party ( ar-at, حزب المصريين الأحرار, Ḥizb El Maṣrīyīn El Aḥrār ) is an Egyptian

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

party, founded after the

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

. It supports the principles of a

, democratic, and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

political order in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. The Free Egyptians Party was the largest party in the

. The party is a founding member of

Al Hurriya Liberal Network The Al Hurriya Liberal Network (, AHLN) is a network of liberal political parties in the Middle East and North African region (MENA) founded on 20 March 2021. Starting 2019, several liberal parties started cooperating to spread values such as ...

History

Establishment

On 3 April 2011, the engineer and businessman

Naguib Sawiris Naguib Onsi Sawiris (or Sawires; ar, نجيب اُنسى ساويرس ; ; born 15 June 1954) is an Egyptian billionaire businessman. Sawiris is chairman of Weather Investments's parent company, and the former chairman and CEO of Orascom Telec ...

, and a group of intellectuals and political activists announced the establishment of the party and declared the program, the objectives and the basic principles of the party. Other prominent party members include the

Egyptian American Egyptian Americans are Americans of partial or full Egyptian ancestry. The 2016 US Census estimated the number of people with Egyptian ancestry at 256,000. Most of whom are from Egypt's Christian Coptic minority.Estimates for the number of Cop ...

scientist

Farouk El-Baz Farouk El-Baz ( arz, فاروق الباز, ''Pronunciation'': ) (born January 2, 1938) is an Egyptian American space scientist and geologist, who worked with NASA in the scientific exploration of the Moon and the planning of the Apollo program. ...

, the

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and o ...

poet

Ahmed Fouad Negm Ahmed Fouad Negm ( ar, أحمد فؤاد نجم, ; 22 May 1929 – 3 December 2013), popularly known as el-Fagommi الفاجومي (), was an Egyptians, Egyptian vernacular poetry, poet. Negm is well known for his work with Egyptian composer Shei ...

, the writer

Gamal El-Ghitani Gamal al-Ghitani, ( ar, جمال الغيطانى, ; 9 May 1945 – 18 October 2015) was an Egyptian author of historical and political novels and cultural and political commentaries and was the editor-in-chief of the literary periodical ''Akhb ...

, and the telecommunications entrepreneur

Khaled Bichara Khaled Bichara ( ar, خالد بشارة, ) (July 27, 1971 – January 31, 2020) was an Egyptian businessman and entrepreneur who served as the chairman of link.net and chief executive officer of Accelero Capital. Prior to joining Accelero Capit ...

. In July 2011, infighting emerged within the party. An internal faction called the "Group of 17" accused the national leadership of undemocratic methods in choosing local leaders in the

Damietta Governorate Damietta Governorate ( ar, محافظة دمياط ' ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the northeastern part of the country, and has a population of over 1 million. Its capital is the city of Damietta. Damietta (city) is fa ...

and of tolerating former members of the National Democratic Party, the ruling party of the toppled

Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

regime, within the ranks of the Free Egyptians Party. Five of the dissidents have been excluded from the party, and have been denoted as "troublemakers" by party officials. Nevertheless, in August of the same year, the new party reported to have 100,000 members.

Egyptian Bloc and elections of 2011/2012

The Free Egyptians Party was an integral component of the

Egyptian Bloc The Egyptian Bloc ( ar, الكتلة المصرية, ') was an electoral alliance in Egypt. It was formed in August 2011 by several liberal, social democratic, and leftist political parties and movements, as well as the traditional Islamist Suf ...

, a broad electoral alliance opposing the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

, founded on 16 August 2011. The Egyptian Bloc has taken up the cause of defending Egypt's secularity and civic society. However, until the first post-revolutionary parliamentary elections, held in November 2011 and January 2012, several member parties left the Egyptian Bloc, complaining that it included "remnants of the former regime". So, at the time of the election the Bloc only included the Free Egyptians Party, the

Egyptian Social Democratic Party The Egyptian Social Democratic Party ( ar-at, الحزب المصرى الديمقراطى الاجتماعى, al-Ḥizb al-Maṣrī al-Dimuqrāṭī al-Ijtmāʿī, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal and a Social democracy, social democrati ...

(ESDP), and Tagammu. Together, the Bloc won 2,402,238 votes, corresponding to a share of 8.9%. Of the 332 seats allocated to parties and coalitions, 33 were taken by candidates of the Egyptian Bloc, 14 of which were members of the Free Egyptians Party. One FEP member was elected to one of the 166 seats reserved for individual candidates. Unlike its partners ESDP and Tagammu, the Free Egyptians Party decided to boycott the Shura council elections in January and February 2012, citing the reluctance of authorities to address irregularities during the lower house elections. After the elections, the Egyptian Bloc collapsed with the ESDP retiring, claiming that the other partners were more concerned over the secular-Islamist divide than over the differences between the former regime and the forces of the revolution. In March 2012, former deputy chairman and member of parliament

Mohamed Abu Hamed Mohamed Abu Hamed Shaheen ( ar, محمد ابو حامد شاهين, ) (born March 14, 1973) is an Egyptian politician. He is the former vice chairman of the Free Egyptians Party, and was an elected member of the post-revolutionary People's Assem ...

resigned from the party to become a leader of the

Life of the Egyptians Party The Life of the Egyptians Party, or Egyptians Life Party is a political party started by former MP Mohamed Abu Hamed Mohamed Abu Hamed Shaheen ( ar, محمد ابو حامد شاهين, ) (born March 14, 1973) is an Egyptian politician. He is ...

and later of the

Egyptian Patriotic Movement The Egyptian Patriotic Movement, or Egyptian National Movement ( ar, الحركة الوطنية المصرية) is a political party initiated by former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik and Mohamed Abu Hamed, former vice chairman of the Fr ...

Opposition against the Islamist government

The Free Egyptians did not take part in the selection of members of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

in June 2012, lamenting an over-representation of Islamists in it. It confirmed its calls to boycott the assembly in September 2012. Instead, the FEP participated in a number of projects trying to coordinate the secular opposition against the Islamist majority that came out of the election, namely the

Egyptian Nation Alliance The Egyptian Nation Alliance ( ar, تحالف الأمة المصرية; Tahalof El-Umma El-Masriya; also translated as ''Egyptian National Alliance'', ''Egyptian Patriotism Alliance'', ''Alliance for the Egyptian Nation'', ''Coalition of the Egy ...

that was announced in September 2012, the Civil Democratic Movement of October 2012, and the National Salvation Front founded in November 2012. The FEP called for a boycott of the constitutional referendum in December 2012 to demonstrate their rejection of the entire process that led to the Islamist-sponsored 2012 constitution.

After 2013 protests

The Free Egyptians Party supported the ouster of President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012anti-government protests against him. The party regarded the protests leading up to Morsi's removal as a revolution and did not regard his overthrow as a coup. In December 2013, the older liberal

Democratic Front Party The Democratic Front Party was an Egyptian political party. The party merged with the Free Egyptians Party in December 2013. Foundation and profile The party was founded in 2007 by Ahmed Diab and Yehia Al Gamal. The party adopted liberal ideo ...

merged into the Free Egyptians Party. In the same month, it was reported that the Free Egyptians Party had become part of the National Front Coalition, but in February 2014 the party clarified that it would not make sense to join an electoral alliance before the electoral law was even passed. The Free Egyptians supported the 2014 Egyptian constitution that was up for vote during the January 2014 constitutional referendum, which it passed with 98.1% (while the turnout was 38.6%). In April 2014, the Free Egyptians Party was admitted as a full member to the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism around ...

, as it had previously already been an observer member and member of the regional Arab Alliance for Freedom and Democracy. The party declared its support for candidate

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...

in the May 2014 presidential election.

President

After the party's establishment, a presidential office was established to act as president of the party until internal elections.. After the parliamentary elections of November 2011 and January 2012, Ahmed Said was appointed as interim president of the party and Rawi Camel-Touge as interim Secretary General. After holding the first congress of the party on 10 May 2013 Ahmed Said was elected as the first elected president of the Free Egyptians Party. After the merger of the Democratic Front Party into the Free Egyptians Party, at the first Supreme Council meeting on 28 April 2014 Essam Khalil was elected to be General Secretary. in December 2015, Free Egyptians Party elected his leader Essam Khalil with 84% of votes to be the second elected president.

Political bureau

The first elected Political Bureau of the Free Egyptians Party: * Essam Khalil – Party Leader * Nader El Sharkawy; (Acting Secretary General) * Alaa Abed – Parliamentary Bloc Chief * Belal Habash * Shehab Wagieh * Mona Gab Allah * Ahmed Saif – Managing Director * Manal Abdel-Hamid * Nassr El Kafas * Amir Youssef

Board of Trustees

Board of trustees was approved in the first congress of the party * Salah Fadel – Chairman *

* Mohammed Salmawy *

* Yehia El-Gamal * Sakina Fouad * Nadim Elias * Ragy Soliman * Mahmoud Al Alily

Internal Crisis

In 2016, the Free Egyptians Party underwent a major internal crisis that led to the division of the party into two opposing factions; one led by Party Leader Essam Khalil, and the other led by Party founder

Buildup

Essam Khalil saw Sawiris and the Board as being too domineering over party affairs, and that the only way to effectively lead what was now the biggest political party in Egypt would be to remove the board and transfer the executive and legislative roles of the board to the Political Bureau. Furthermore, Khalil was angered by Sawiris' constant interference in party affairs and his criticism of the party's continued support for the government. Sawiris also called for disciplinary action against several party members, for voting in favour of actions he deemed wrong, such as the attack on the influential Egyptian writer and media personality Ibrahim Eissa. The majority of said parliamentarians were close friends of Khalil's, which caused further tension between the two. It has also been reported that Sawiris had cut off funding towards the party for 6–7 months in protest of its policies. Sawiris wanted the party to serve as an opposition figure to the government, whereas it seemed Khalil was just supporting everything the government did.

Division

The dispute began when Khalil called for a vote to dissolve the Board of Trustees of the party at the Annual Party Conference. Khalil emphasised that the party was too big for a Board of Trustees, and that the system of management of the party was too inefficient. He asserted that there are only two other parties in the world with a Board of Trustees, one in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and the other being the

. However, according to the party's own bylaws, any decision concerning the governance of the party must be approved of by the Board of Trustees. Thus a stalemate was reached, wherein Khalil took control of the party as though the Board had approved the new proposals, whilst Sawiris stood firm in his stance against the move, deeming it to be illegal, and continues to exercise great influence on the party.

Aftermath

Little has changed in the party's situation since 2016. Sawiris has since filed a lawsuit in Egypt against Essam Khalil for violation of the party's internal bylaws. However, due to the inactivity of the party, especially in the face of the growing influence of the

Wafd Party The Wafd Party (; ar, حزب الوفد, ''Ḥizb al-Wafd'') was a nationalist liberal political party in Egypt. It was said to be Egypt's most popular and influential political party for a period from the end of World War I through the 1930 ...

and the explosive rise of the Future of the Nation Party, the Free Egyptians Party is no longer seen as the political force it once was, and is widely expected to lose many seats in the next parliamentary elections.

Election results

References

External links

* {{Interlib 2011 establishments in Egypt Egyptian nationalist parties Liberal parties in Egypt Organisations of the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) Political parties established in 2011 Secularism in Egypt