EGYPT: LAUNCH OF NEW LIBERAL POLITICAL PARTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 004612 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR MIKE SINGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2016 TAGS: PGOVKDEM KDEM EG SUBJECT: EGYPT: LAUNCH OF NEW LIBERAL POLITICAL PARTY REF: CAIRO 1694 Classified by Acting DCM Asif Chaudhry, for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Shura Council member and former NDP Policies Committee member Osama al-Ghazali Harb, one of Egypt's most prominent liberal intellectuals, recently launched the Democratic Front Party (DFP),with the goal of offering, "an alternative to both the corruption and autocracy of the current regime, and the Muslim Brotherhood." With a membership of 350 thus far (some of whom are prominent academics, Sadat-era government officials, lawyers, economists, and environmentalists) the DFP is now concentrating on youth outreach, and fulfilling the legal requirements necessary for the party to apply to the GOE's Political Parties Committee (PPC) for formal approval. Cairo political circles are largely skeptical of the DFP's ability to establish a party base, national infrastructure, and name recognition among a broad swath of Egyptian society, and cite the lack of a charismatic, experienced politician in the party's leadership as a significant liability. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) In a July 27 meeting with poloff, Shura Council member and former NDP Policies Committee member Osama al-Ghazali Harb, one of Egypt's most prominent liberal intellectuals, discussed his launching of the Democratic Front Party (DFP). Harb stated his goal in founding the party is to "offer an alternative to both the corruption and autocracy of the current regime, and the Muslim Brotherhood ... there is a critical vacuum in the Egyptian political landscape that we must fill." Yehya al-Gamal, a noted constitutional scholar and former high-ranking technocrat in the Sadat government, joined Harb as one of the party's founding members at the July 16 press conference which formally launched the DFP. Several other prominent academics, Sadat-era government officials, lawyers, economists, and environmentalists are also members. ¶3. (C) According to Harb, the DFP has 350-strong membership thus far, largely concentrated in Cairo, but also including residents of Alexandria and Daqilhiya governorates. A party headquarters office has been opened in the Mohandeseen district of Cairo. Harb described the DFP's goals for the next six months as youth outreach, and working to fulfill the legal requirements necessary for the party to apply to the GOE's Political Parties Committee (PPC) for formal approval. (Note: In order to be approved by the PPC, political parties must meet a variety of requirements, among them that the written "notification" of the party to the PPC President be signed by one thousand "founding members" of the party from at least 10 governorates, of whom fifty-percent must be "farmers and workers". End Note). While acknowledging the challenges, both political and procedural, of getting legal approval for the DFP, and terming the endeavor, "an uphill battle," an enthusiastic Harb noted, "I am still optimistic!" ¶4. (C) Harb lamented the timing of the announcement of the party's launch, noting that the current crisis in Lebanon meant that a liberal party such as the DFP has to "keep a low profile ... people are not interested in talking about political reform in Egypt right now, but rather about their support for Hassan Nasrallah." When queried as to why founding a new liberal party was preferable to joining an existing one, Harb stated he was discouraged by the current liberal political groupings, terming Al Wafd "tired and uninspiring", and Al Ghad as "dying." Harb reserved his harshest criticism for the "so-called" reformers of the National Democratic Party (NDP),bitterly recounting the "press attacks" he has endured in pro-regime newspapers since resigning from the NDP's Policies Committee, and stating that "the clique around Gamal Mubarak has no commitment to real reform, only a commitment to themselves and to furthering their personal interests." ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Cairo political circles are largely skeptical of the DFP's ability to establish a party base, national infrastructure, and name recognition among a broad swath of Egyptian society, and cite the lack of a charismatic, experienced politician in the party's leadership as a significant liability. Several contacts have noted to us their expectation that the DFP will have "extreme difficulty" in extending its appeal beyond the Cairene intellectual elite. RICCIARDONE