THE APPARENT DEMISE OF AYMAN NOUR'S AL GHAD PARTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 003527 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM EG SUBJECT: THE APPARENT DEMISE OF AYMAN NOUR'S AL GHAD PARTY REF: A. CAIRO 2511 ¶B. CAIRO 3168 Classified By: DCM Stuart E. Jones, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) The opposition party Al Ghad, previously led by now-imprisoned former presidential candidate Ayman Nour, appears to have been neutalized. On December 9, Musa Mustafa Musa, an apparent government-backed rival of Nour's, reportedly won the final court ruling regarding the leadership dispute in the party. According to the state press, on December 9, the Cairo Court of Appeals upheld a previous court verdict that declared Musa as the Ghad party leader as of October 1, 2005 (see ref A for details on previous ruling). ¶2. (C) According to reports in both independent Egyptian newspapers and the pan-Arab newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat, Nour's supporters are now planing to form a new party, "The Free Alternative" (Al Badeel Al Hurr),which Nour had first advocated forming in August, when the Political Parties Committee ruled that Musa was leader of Al Ghad (ref A). Ismail was quoted in press reports as saying that, "the new party will have the same principles, ideas, and platform as Al Ghad party. It will be a liberal party, even though the Political Parties Committee is likely to reject it for this precise reason." ¶3. (C) Registration of the Free Alternative party seems unlikely. The Political Parties Committee which grants party licenses is composed of ruling party and government officials, who rarely approve requests to form new parties. Ricciardone