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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #4612 2081414
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 271414Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0178
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

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