Archive for Asala Party

Election laws top Islamist legislative agenda

by admin
January 2nd, 2013

Islamist lawmakers in the Shura Council are set to propose a series of legislation that would regulate the upcoming elections of the House of Representatives as well as the work of some pivotal institution such as the Constitutional Court.

Adel Afifiy, chairman of Asala Party, a Salafi group, stressed that priority should be given to laws banning protests in vital areas, such as Tahrir Square. He said that Islamist legislators in the Shura Council will work on laws serving Islamist parties and granting their candidates more electoral ground in the upcoming elections for the House of Representatives (previously the People’s Assembly).

On Sunday, news outlets had circulated a 26-article draft bill that would restrict demonstrations to certain hours and require organizers to notify authorities in advance of a protest. Both a lawmaker from the Shura Council committees alleged to have drafted the legislation the FJP denied responsibility for the bill.

Saad Omara, from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party’s Shura bloc, said the council would essentially discusswhat it deems inevitable bills, including drafts amending the council’s regulation in a way that empowers it with the legislative authority stipulated in the new constitution. Omara said that law has to be approved for the council to fulfill its legislative function.

According to Omara, a law governing Supreme Constitutional Court cases also must  be amended so that the court rules on the constitutionality of bills before, rather than after, they are passed into law.

He said the council would also handle the law regulating lower house elections, which is expected to come out of government-sponsored national dialogue meetings. Among the proposals is a mixed candidacy system, with two thirds of seats contested through list-based nominations and one third reserved for candidates running off the party lists.

Salah Abdel Maaboud, a member of the supreme board at the Salafi-oriented Nour Party, said there are also proposals to amend the delineation of electoral districts.

Despite the limited time available for passing laws, parties are eager to approve a national maximum and minimum wage, Omara said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Islamist coalition: all options are open to “maintain legitimacy”

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December 8th, 2012

The Islamic Forces Coalition warned on Saturday of what it described as “manipulators of the will of the people” who were attempting to coup against legitimacy.

The coalition, comprised of 13 parties and Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi Dawah, released a joint statement saying, “All options are open before the Islamic forces to maintain legitimacy and elected state institutions.”

 “Representatives of the Islamic Current in Egypt will not allow, under any pretext or under any name, the return and [resurrection] of the former corrupt regime,” the statement said. “Millions who have gathered in this peaceful revolution will not stand idly by, while seeing the gains of their revolution taken away.”

The statement added that the coalition “supports all activities aiming to maintain legitimacy,” while also condemning what it described as the “paid corrupt media.”

In the statement, the coalition emphasized the need for the constitution referendum to be conducted on time, and emphasized the need for political and economic stability.

Other groups signing on to the statement, aside from the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi Dawah, included the Jurisprudence Commission for Rights and Reform, Jama'a al-Islamiya, the Association of Sunni Scholars, the Preachers Syndicate, the Revolution Board of Trustees, the Salafi Front, the Nour Party, the Freedom and Justice Party, the Construction and Development Party, the Asala Party and the Reform and Development Party. 

Edited translation from MENA

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Friday demonstration may be postponed, planners say

by admin
October 29th, 2012

 

Pro-Sharia demonstrations planned for Friday 2 November may be postponed following announcements by several Islamist parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, the Nour Party and the Asala Party, that they would not take part.

 “We will decide on Tuesday,” said Mohamed al-Rayes, the planning committee’s public relations coordinator. “We want to give the Constituent Assembly more time to amend Article 2 that pertains to this matter.”

“Another reason is that many of our elders are at the hajj,” Rayes added, while noting that the young members of the Jama’a al-Islamiya and the Salafi Front insist on still holding the demonstration. Twenty-two revolutionary movements have also announced their participation, he said.

Several other movements and political parties have rejected the call to protest in favor of Sharia, claiming that all political forces in Egypt agreed with the controversial wording of Article 2, which holds the principles of Sharia are the main source of legislation.

Nabil Zaki, official spokesperson for the leftist Tagamoa Party, said that call for protests to apply Sharia is needless, particularly because Sharia has already been applied through existing laws. He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Islamist parties and groups are merely seeking to show force by putting pressure on the Constituent Assembly.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Dozens protest cartoons of Prophet at French embassy

by admin
September 21st, 2012

 

Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the French Embassy in Cairo, located on Murad Street in Giza, Friday afternoon to denounce cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohamed that were published by the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

Hardline conservative parties including the Salafi Front, Hazemoun and Jama’a al-Islamiya had called for today’s demonstration.

Security forces closed all the roads leading to the embassy and cordoned off the building. Giza Governor Ali Abel Rahman told Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr at the scene that the streets would be reopened for traffic after the protest. He also praised the peaceful nature of the demonstration.

Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that dozens began a march at Omar Makram Mosque near Tahrir Square that then headed to the French embassy in Giza. They chanted slogans denouncing what they called the repeated insults against the Prophet Mohamed.

Some of the protesters raised banners calling for the boycott of American and French products.

Ayman Amer, a coordinator of the march, said that President Mohamed Morsy hadn’t done enough to respond to these insults.

Islamic forces have been divided on today’s demonstrations. The Muslim Brotherhood and its political branch the Freedom and Justice Party, the Salafi Nour Party and the Asala Party announced they would not take part in the protest to avoid any repetition of the events at the US embassy last week. They added they would submit a formal protest to the French embassy about the cartoons.

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Salafi Party demands alcohol embargo at Egypt’s diplomatic missions

by admin
July 25th, 2012

The Asala Party has requested Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr instruct Egypt's diplomatic missions abroad to not offer alcoholic beverages during official events.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Salafi-oriented party suggested redirecting funds allocated for alcoholic beverages to the Finance Ministry back home to help provide health services for citizens.

It said the proposed measure should apply to all months of the year and not only the holy month of Ramadan, which began last Friday.

On Sunday, Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour modified the rules for tourist facilities, such as restaurants, nightclubs and hotels, by banning the sale of alcoholic beverages to Egyptians on all religious occasions and not just during Ramadan, out of respect for Muslims, who make up around 90 percent of the population.
 

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Salafi party calls for establishing court to monitor Sharia compliance

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July 22nd, 2012

The Salafi-oriented Asala Party called on the constituent assembly to stipulate in the constitution the establishment of a new supreme court to monitor whether laws and decisions conform to Sharia.

The Nour Party, also Salafi-led, said it is also examining the idea, which has been rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

Adel Afify, the head of the Asala Party, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he will submit the proposal to the constituent assembly.

Afify said the court would work alongside the Supreme Constitutional Court, interpreting Article 2 of the constitution and screen out laws and bylaws contradicting Sharia.

He added that its jurisdiction would not contradict with that of the Supreme Constitutional Court.

Younis Makhyoun, a senior member of the Nour Party and a member of the constituent assembly, said the party will study the proposal or find another way to “defend Sharia.”

Mokhtar al-Ashry, the head of the Freedom and Justice Party’s legal committee, said the proposal will cause the crisis between Al-Azhar and Salafis to deepen.

Article 2 of Egypt’s former constitution, which remains in the current Constitutional Declaration issued in March 2011, states that Islam is the religion of the state and that the principles of Sharia are the main source of legislation.

Conservative Salafi groups have called for amending this article to state that Sharia, rather than its principles, is the main source of legislation, which would lead to a wider implementation of Sharia. This demand sparked disagreements with Al-Azhar.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Nour Party says MP did not commit public indecency

by admin
June 9th, 2012

 

Nour Party officials said Saturday that after investigation, they have found that party MP Ali Wanees is innocent of public indecency.

 Following the arrest of Wanees on Friday, the supreme body of the Nour Party said it sent a delegation of its members to interrogate him.

Police said they found Wanees in an indecent situation with a girl in his car over the weekend. Wanees maintained that the young woman was his niece, who had taken ill.

"The party [discovered] that the police officer who accused Wanees charged him after a quarrel," Makhyoun told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

"Nour Party summoned for Wanees's niece who asserted she was with him in the car when she felt sudden pain, prompting Wanees to stop roadside to try to help her. The police officer intervened and then accused him," he said.

Makhyoun said the party plans to prosecute the officer who accused the MP.

“We filed a suit against him because of the false claim [which aimed] to tarnish the image of the Islamic movements and the elected parliament," he said.

Adel Afify, chairman of the Salafi-led Asala Party, to whom Wanees belonged before joining Nour Party, said that the Asala Party will defend Wanees by all means because the party is sure he is innocent.

“What [Wanees] is experiencing is part of a fierce campaign launched against the parliament,” he said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Nour Party official: Constituent Assembly formation to be announced Thursday

by admin
June 6th, 2012

A senior official with the Salafi-oriented Nour Party has declared that the constitution-writing dilemma will be resolved on Thursday when a final decision is issued in a meeting between the ruling military council and political forces.

Al-Sayyed Mostafa Khalifa, the Nour Party's deputy chairman, told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Wednesday that the People's Assembly should issue legislation outlining the makeup of the anticipated 100-member assembly formation, which had been agreed upon during a meeting on Tuesday between the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and 18 political parties.

Khalifa revealed that attendants at the Tuesday meeting had agreed to allocate 37 of the Constituent Assembly seats to political parties, 20 to youth and public figures, nine to legal experts, six to judicial bodies, five to Al-Azhar, four to the church, one seat each for the ministries of interior and justice, and one for the armed forces. 

“As soon as the Freedom and Justice Party and other parties that failed to attend the meeting agree to the outcome, legislation including those standards will be issued so as to avoid legal challenges against the formation,” he said.

Khalifa added that his party contacted the FJP, whose members said they have no problem with the agreed upon allocations.

Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Nour Party MP Talaat Marzouk dismissed the SCAF’s intervention in the Constituent Assembly issue as an encroachment on Parliament’s authority.

Meanwhile, Adel Afify, chairman of the Asala Party, another Salafi-led party, stressed that the SCAF does not intend to unilaterally set standards for the Constituent Assembly formation.

“Had that been true, the SCAF would have done it without consulting political forces,” he said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

   

  

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Elections body closes door for presidential candidates to withdraw

by admin
May 9th, 2012

The Presidential Elections Commission closed the door Tuesday for presidential hopefuls to pull out of the race, as none of them submitted a request to withdraw.

That makes the list of 13 candidates announced by the commission on 26 April final.

Independent candidates include Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, Islamist Mohamed Selim al-Awa, ex-Muslim Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, leftist lawyer Khaled Ali and former police officer and security official Mahmoud Hossam.

Party candidates are Abul Ezz al-Hariry of the Popular Socialist Alliance, Mohamed Fawzy Eissa of the Generation Party, Hossam Khairallah of the Democratic Peace Party, Hesham al-Bastawisi of the leftist Tagammu Party, Abdallah al-Ashal of the Asala Party, and Mohamed Morsy of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.

Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that negotiations to choose a single “revolutionary presidential candidate” that leftist and revolutionary forces could unite behind have failed.

Negotiations between Bastawisi, Hariry and Sabbahi, as well as Abouel Fotouh and Ali, began in April in an effort to reach an agreement to consolidate their campaigns and supporters to compete against Mubarak regime figures, such as Shafiq and Moussa.

Edited translation from MENA

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MP says FJP, Nour Party to occupy 22 seats on Constituent Assembly

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April 26th, 2012

Political parties have agreed in principle to grant the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi Nour Party 22 seats out of 100 on the Constituent Assembly that will draft Egypt's new constitution, according to MP Wahid Abdel Meguid, coordinator of the FJP-led Democratic Alliance.

Abdel Meguid, who is a member of the mediation committee that is working to end the impasse over the assembly’s makeup, said the parties involved in the mediation have agreed to grant 15 seats to the FJP, seven to the Nour Party, and four to the Wafd Party out of the 40 seats to be occupied by political parties.

Abdel Meguid's announcement reverses his earlier statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm that attendees of the mediation meetings had agreed that parliamentarians would not sit on the Constituent Assembly.

The Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly formed in March was suspended by a court ruling for its lack of diversity.

Abdel Meguid said that a meeting between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and political parties has been postponed until Friday in the hopes that consensus can be achieved on the final formation of the assembly before the meeting.

He noted that participants in the mediation sessions have agreed to include moderate public figures and legal experts who are not affiliated with particular political movements.  

Adel Afify, chairman of the Salafi-led Asala Party, refused to comment on Abdel Meguid’s statements, arguing that the political parties involved in the mediation had agreed not to disclose any information about the meetings’ details. He called upon the SCAF to immediately intervene to end the impasse which, he said, has reached a dead end.

“If we leave the issue to negotiations between political parties, we will not settle on the formation before two years,” he said.

Edited Translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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