The Egyptian Supreme Adminstrative court ruled on Sunday in favor of an application for a new political party submitted by former members of the National Democratic Party (NDP).
The application for the new party, to be named the Freedom Party, was originally rejected by the Political Parties Affairs Committee two weeks ago.
Judicial sources explained that the court overruled the committee’s decision based on the political parties law approved by the government in March.
The committee originally rejected the application on the grounds that subscription fees for the party leaders were more than those for its ordinary members, which it considered a form of discrimination, limiting leadership positions to rich members.
The annual subscription rates quoted were as follows: LE10 for ordinary members; LE1000 for higher committee members; LE1500 for executive committee members; LE75,000 for the organization secretary; LE100,000 for the secretary general and vice-president; and LE125,000 for the party president.
The Freedom Party application was submitted by Moataz Mahmoud, a former member of the NDP Policies Secretariat.
Political forces in Egypt had called for a law banning former NDP members from engaging in politics for a certain period, fearing they would gain control of parliament.
