Egypt's ex-army chief of staff to contest parliamentary elections in alliance with Sufi orders

Former Egyptian chief of staff General Sami Anan has reportedly decided to return to politics with a new political party despite his earlier assertions that he would withdraw from political life.

Anan’s comeback coincides with the approaching parliamentary elections. According to the spokesman of Anan’s political party, Mohamed Farag, as quoted by al-Mesryoon newspaper, the party will include “prominent public figures and businessmen” who will take part in financing the party.

Anan is currently preparing to submit his party’s papers to the Parties Affairs Committee after collecting more than 18,000 signatures, well above the minimum required number of signatures for the registration of any political party.

The party, named Masr El-Oroubah (Egypt of Arabism), is scheduled to hold an inaugural conference to announce its latest preparations for parliamentary elections.

Farag pointed out that his party will contest 20-25 percent of parliament seats, and that Anan will be named the party’s “leader” rather than “president,” while his son Sameer Sami Anan will be named president of the party.

Farag added that members of the party will include former members of the armed forces, “known for their integrity and patriotism.”

Regarding electoral alliances, Farag said that Anan decided to ally with the Sufi bloc in the parliament, after all his outreach with other alliances has failed.

He accused all parties in the other coalitions of seeking to dominate the parliament, such as Al-Wafd Party. “How would a party like al-Wafd get 60 percent of the seats with its weakness and low popularity?” he asked.

He stressed that the Sufi electoral base is “guaranteed,” since Anan descends from a Sufi family whose members exceed 1.8 million, he claimed.

Farag pointed out that Anan’s brother, Hatem Anan, is a Sufi leader and is the one tasked with reaching out to Sufis to convince them to vote for Anan’s party.

Sufi sources told al-Mesryoon that the Sufi bloc is divided between supporting Liberals and Anan. Yet, the followers of the Sufi Sheikh Abdelhadi al-Kasabi have decided to back Anan because of his Sufi roots, sources confirmed, pointing out that Anan and the Sufis have a common interest in “confronting religious currents seeking to secure parliament seats, be they Salafis or Muslim Brothers.”