New initiative to reconcile Egyptian political parties refused

The Strong Egypt Party introduced a new initiative to reconcile the country’s warring political parties with the current authorities, however most of the Islamists and other opposition factions refused it, Almesryoon.com reported.

The initiative included legislation, rights and freedoms, fighting terrorism and integration.

Ahmed Abdul-Jawad, head of the Al-Badil Al-Hadari Party which is being setup, said: “We completely refuse it because it legitimises the coup regime and because we believe that there must be no reconciliation or negotiations with Al-Sisi’s regime.”

Meanwhile, the prominent leader of the National Alliance Against the Coup, Hatem Abu Zaid said: “The initiative does not deserve to be critiqued because it was laid down in cooperation with the authorities.”

“It reinforces and legitimises the coup and strengthens it future by giving a chance for the criminals to evade punishment.”

Abu Zaid described the initiative as “unjust”. He stressed it reinforces the concept of violence and terrorism and, at the same time, ignores the nation and its will.

The Salafist Front said the initiative was “suspicious” and that the coup regime would never “dream of a better initiative” for the resolution of the ongoing political deadlock in the country.

Spokesman of the Salafist Front Mostafa Al-Badri said: “Those, the leaders of Strong Egypt and the other parties which supported the removal of Mohamed Morsi, are trying to beautify the image of the coup with a kind of cartoonish opposition.”

Another Salafist party warned the leader of Strong Egypt Party and former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh of becoming a new victim for the regime and its media should his initiative fail.

Hazim Khater, the spokesman of the Hazimoun movement, which supported former presidential candidate Sheikh Hazem Abu-Ismail, said he feared that Aboul Fotouh might face the same fate that former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi faced when his initiative failed.