The liberal Wafd Party on Sunday dismissed reports that it would join a coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood in parliament. The party would prefer a coalition with liberal forces, it said.
“We won’t form any coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood in parliament,” said Wafd Party Secretary Fouad Badrawy.
“We may approve a draft law or so that the Brotherhood has approved,” he added. “This is a normal practice that does not mean a coalition.”
Ali al-Selmy, the party’s deputy president, voiced satisfaction with the election results. “We will be a strong opposition, which is what parliament needs,” he said. “And it will be a balanced parliament if we unite with the liberal parties that call for a civil state.”
“It is better to cooperate with the liberals than the Brotherhood,” he said.
Wafd and the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party entered into an alliance in July under the Democratic Coalition, along with 30 other political parties. However, in early November, the coalition’s major political forces, including Wafd, withdrew from the alliance.
Party spokesman Mohamed Shordy said the Brotherhood seeks to single-handedly write the constitution. “We won’t allow them to do so,” he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday said it had won at least 41 percent of the seats in Egypt's lower house of parliament, with Islamists of various stripes occupying almost two thirds of the assembly.
Wafd party received 9 percent of the votes.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
