Morsi invites political parties for live national dialogue

Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi has invited most of the political powers and figures in Egypt to hold a national dialogue session on Tuesday to discuss guarantees of the integrity and transparency of the upcoming Parliamentary elections, scheduled for April 22. The session will also discuss the different opinions of the political powers which ensure an unbiased election process.

A statement issued by the Egyptian President on Monday evening stated, “The session will be held at 5:30 sharp at the Egyptian presidential headquarters in Ittihadiya Palace. The events of the session will be broadcasted live.”

The statement noted that the agenda “includes discussion of all proposals of the participating political powers, the methods of pursuing local and international civil society organisations for the electoral process and the enhancement of the feeling of trust associated with the electoral process. A detailed report of this meeting will be issued and sent to the Supreme Commission for Elections.”

The statement also stated that the presidency would use, “direct communication to officially invite political symbols, parties, and powers,” to the session. These are namely; “The Authenticity Party, The Reform and Development Party, The Building and Development Party, The Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Egyptian Popular Current, and the Egyptian Current Party.”

The President also extended an invitation to “The Freedom and Justice Party, The Egypt Civilization Party, The Constitution Party, The New Labour Party, Al-Fadila Party, The Dignity Party, The Wafd Party, a representative from the Evangelical Church, a representative from the Orthodox Church, a representative from the Catholic Church, and The Egyptian Social Democratic Party.”

Moreover, the invitation included “The Free Egyptians Party, The Conference Party, Al-Nour Party, Al-Wasat Party, The Homeland Party, The April 6 Movement, The Kefaya Movement, The Ghad El-Thawra Movement, a representative of Al-Azhar, The Misr Party, The Freedom Egypt Party, and The Strong Egypt Party.”

The presidency also made calls to public figures such as “Ibrahim Al-Mua’alim, Dr. Tharwat Badawi, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, Hafez Abu Saada, Hamdi Qandil, Rami Lakah, Chancellor Zakaria Abdel Aziz, Sameh Fawzi, Dr. Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, and Susie Nashed.”

An invitation was also extended to the poet Abdel Rahman Youssef, Fahmi Huwaidi, Dr. Abdullah Al-Ashaal, Counselor Mahmoud Al-Khudairi, Dr. Mustafa Al-Najjar, Dr. Manar Al-Shorbagy, Dr. Heba Raouf Ezzat, Wael Ghonim, Wael Kandil, and Gamal Eid.”